Hyonhee Shin

SEOUL (Reuters – South Korea’s Presidential Candidates officially began Campaigning Tuesday. This is the most closely contested race between the two major parties in South Korea in over 20 years. It was dominated by scandals which have permitted a third candidate to play the potential role of kingmaker.

Recent polls show that voters desire a president who is able to remove polarized politics and corrupt practices, as well as address the problems of runaway property prices and growing inequality that plague Asia’s fourth-largest country.

It would be beneficial to curb North Korea’s missile tests and resume talks. However, the record January month of missile testing from Pyongyang still hasn’t made South Korea’s foreign policies a major issue for their March 9 vote.

The polls’ major issues have been obscured by scandals, including allegations of power abuse or spats over a candidate’s affair with an anal-acupuncturist and shaman.

Official registration was opened Sunday and fourteen people have already signed up. Lee Jae-myung is the flag-bearer from the Democratic Party. Yoon Suk–yeol comes from the conservative People Power Party.

Lee and Yoon were dubbed “unlikeable” elections due to their high disapproval ratings, and smear campaign waged by each side. Yoon holds a slight advantage in recent weeks, but they are still neck-and-neck in polls.

Realmeter’s Sunday survey showed that 46% of respondents preferred Yoon while 39.1% prefer Lee. Southern Post ranked Yoon at 0.5%, with only 35.5%.

This would be in contrast to the three previous presidential elections which were predictable. This contest may be close since 2002, when an opponent lost to President Roh Moo-hyun with a margin of 2.33%, or 570 980 votes.

Bae Jongchan, a political analyst, who heads the Insight K think-tank, said that this election was the worst we have ever witnessed.

Lee was a former Gyeonggi governor. His aggressive management of the coronavirus pandemic as well as his support of universal basic Income and his advocacy for it made him a household name.

Yoon, a novice politician, is now a popular figure thanks to his reputation as a strong prosecutor-general. He led high-profile investigations in corruption scandals involving aides of former President Park Geun Hye and the current President Moon Jaein.

Ahn Cheolsoo is an opposition candidate, but he has found relief in growing dissatisfaction with mainstream politics and the controversy surrounding both candidates’ families.

CAMPAIGN MERGEED

Ahn officially offered Sunday to merge campaigns and Yoon, declaring that it would accelerate a “overwhelming win” as well as national unity.

The latest rating of Ahn was between 7-8%, after a peak at 15%. The polls suggested a win for Yoon & Ahn, but it wasn’t clear if Ahn’s followers would all follow him on the combined ticket.

Yoon’s campaign has also called for a merging, as they floated the idea to form a coalition government with Ahn serving as prime minister.

Yoon indicated that he would consider the suggestion “positively”, however, he expressed concern about Ahn’s proposal to have a vote to decide which man would head the ticket.

Yoon’s aide stated that his campaign prefers negotiations between candidates for the position of flag bearer. Ahn stated that he would be open to negotiations, but was not willing to accept any unilateral demands to resign.

Ahn has risen amid mounting voter disgust at the controversy surrounding Lee and Yoon families.

Lee has apologized for his son’s illegal gaming and is now facing a criminal investigation. He was accused of illegally hiring a provincial employee to assist his wife, as well as misappropriating government funds using his corporate credit card.

Lee and his wife apologised to the public for their actions and promised cooperation in any investigations.

Yoon has since apologised to his wife for her inaccurate application for teaching positions years back and denies accusations by Democrats that Yoon was a close-knit shaman involved in his campaign.

He also denies any ties with anal acupuncturist.

Lee’s campaign produced new allegations that Kwon Ah-soo was chairman and largest shareholder of Deutsch Motors Inc. Yoon, a South Korean BMW car dealer, was sponsored by Yoon’s husband’s company to evade police investigations. Yoon, however, worked as a prosecutor. Kwon, who was accused of manipulating the stock price for his company’s stocks, was taken into custody last year.

At the weekend, Yoon was also criticized by the ruling Democratic Party for not removing his shoes while sitting on a train. This is a sign that Yoon lacks a sense or citizenship and good manners.

Yoon’s campaign retorted, accusing Democrats de making groundless accusations even though Lee had promised to stop negative campaigns.