On November 8th, Donald Trump was elected as the 45th president of the United States. As many people had been interested in the U.S. presidential election, it provoked lots of controversies. The intense debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, which had been held several times before the presidential election, engaged a lot of people’s attention.
  Those kinds of debates seemed quite fresh and new to Korean people. Kim Hyeon-sun(’14, the Dept. of Russian Language and Literature) said, “It is very interesting to me that, in the U.S. presidential debates, there was a Q and A session, and many people were able to take part in it. I hope that in Korea’s future presidential debates, we will also be able to communicate with each other freely so that a broad variety of opinions can be taken into consideration.” The reason why she said that is because the U.S. presidential debates are quite different from Korea’s.
  The two nations’ debates have evident differences. First, the structures of the debates are different. In Korea’s presidential debates, candidates sit in a row, and a host sits in front of them and presides over the debate. The most important thing is that there isn’t an audience. The advantages of Korea’s debates are that candidates can concentrate on their conversations and the debates proceed fast and efficiently. However, it also has a disadvantage that it is somewhat formal and stereotypical. On the other hand, the U.S. presidential debates adopted a ‘town hall meeting’ format where candidates sit inside a hall and an audience surrounds them. In addition, two hosts lead the debate. As a result, the audience can have many chances to ask questions, and they can receive prompt feedback from candidates. As such, these kinds of spatial differences make a big a difference in the debates.
  However, in terms of the contents of their debates, they are very similar. In both debates, candidates talk about their pledges and how to guide their people in the future, and they also ask some questions about their opponent’s pledges or criticize them. Sometimes, there are some personal attacks towards opponents, but there also exists some time to explain their suspicions. The reason why people think that both debates are different is because the U.S. presidential debate is similar to a talk show where people can participate freely. Through the U.S. presidential debate, people can hear more about people’s opinions, including the opinions of the minorities, by sharing their thoughts without hesitation.
  An Sung-ho, a CBNU professor in the Department of Political Science, said, “I also think that the formats in both countries’ debates are very similar.” He also added, “Concerning the use of media, both countries use a variety of media, but compared to the U.S., there is a limit on the amount of money used to electioneer in Korea. In fact, in the U.S., candidates are allowed to spend astronomical amounts of money for electioneering. For example, Hillary Clinton spent more than 61 million dollars on advertisements through television and radio ads.”

By Min Tae-kwan l tk36@cbnu.ac.kr
By Yoo Jin-kyu l jk37@cbnu.ac.kr
By Hong Ye-ha l yh37@cbnu.ac.kr