Big shopping complex finds itself in the heart of the race for next S Korean president

One phenomenon South Korea has seen in the recent years is a slow but evident dissolution of the traditional political regionalism—not because governments’ decades-long effort finally worked but the provincial economies are breaking apart: the traditional model of the provincial politics is no longer working.

My latest for Al Jazeera English: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/3/8/as-south-korea-votes-shopping-mall-bid-spotlights-regional-split

Provincial politics has to break itself free from central politics in order to be able to solve its own issues. Easing the restrictions on forming a political party, which experts consider to be one of the harshest in the world, would be a starter.

The current Political Parties Act forces any political party to have its headquarter in the capital and at least five branches in other cities and provinces. Which negates local-based political parties.