This study analyzes the causal relationship between, on the one hand, Koreans’ political orientation, age group, gender, residence, and level of education, and on the other their political participation as registered through the internet comments that have appeared with development of internet tools such as social networking services (SNS). For this study, a telephone survey of Korean adults was conducted in 2015. The total sample of the survey was 1,000, proportionally extracted by gender, age, and region. The statistical analysis methods for hypothesis verification in this study were logistic regression analysis and cross-tabulations.
The results show that only 32.5% of Korean people participate in politics through internet comments. In the analysis of political orientation, people with either conservative or progressive tendencies both turn out to have statistically significant relationships with political participation through internet comments. Koreans with conservative tendencies are 2.95 times more likely to use internet comments, while people with liberal tendencies are 2.17 times more likely. By age group, only individuals in their 20s have a significant relationship with political participation through internet comments (2.43 times more likely than other age groups). There is no statistically significant relationship difference between gender and political participation through internet comments. By residence, only urban residents showed significant relationship with the political participation through internet comments. They are 0.42 times less likely than other area residents. In the analysis of academic background only the graduate school graduates show statistical significance relationship with the political participation through internet comments. They are 1.91 times more likely than high school or college graduates.