A quarter of young South Korean men may have far-right leanings — Korea Herald
In South Korea, researchers classified 25.9% of men aged 18 to 34 as having far-right political leanings. This is the highest figure among all age and gender groups, Korea Herald reports.
How the study was conducted
The study was published in the Korean Journal of Sociology. The authors used data from a Hankook Research survey conducted for Sisa IN in 2025, as well as the 2025 Korean General Social Survey. Based on the responses of 2,000 participants regarding social welfare, economic and healthcare policies, their political orientations were divided into categories.
Participants were divided into three age groups: 18 to 34, 35 to 64, and 65 and older. Among young women, the share of those classified as far-right was 4.2%, the lowest figure among all groups.
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Age and gender differences
The share of young men with right-wing leanings was 50.1%. The next group was people aged 65 and older, at 39.2%. Among young women, right-wing leanings were identified in 22.9% of participants, and among women aged 35 to 64, in 21.1%.
Among men aged 35 to 64, 27.4% were classified as conservatives and 13.4% as far-right. At the same time, 45.1% of men in this age group had left-wing leanings, the largest share among all age groups. The share of centrist women was 43.1% in the young group, 41.8% among middle-aged people, and 40.6% among older participants.
The researchers noted that only 10% of young men identified themselves as far-right, although their political preferences, according to the analysis, indicated otherwise. The authors also stated that the high share of young men classified as far-right has been observed since 2005. The study was conducted by Kim Chang Hwan, a professor of sociology at the University of Kansas, and Choi Sung Su, an associate professor of sociology at Yonsei University.
