Signal V-Dem reclassified Korea from liberal democracy in 2020 to electoral democracy

Summary

The plan cites the V-Dem democracy index as a second international assessment of Korean democracy. According to the plan, Korea was classified as a liberal democracy in 2020 and as an electoral democracy in 2024. The plan explains that V-Dem uses electoral and liberal indices to sort political regimes into liberal democracy, electoral democracy, electoral autocracy and closed autocracy. The reclassification therefore marks a step down within the democratic categories rather than a move out of democracy. The plan presents this change together with the EIU downgrade as evidence that Korea's democracy has retreated from maturity.