‘Swamp dogfight’: South Korean elections turn ugly

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The race between South Korea’s two leading presidential candidates is characterized by unprecedented levels of toxic rhetoric, defamation and lawsuits.

How bad?

“Hitler”, “beast” and “parasite” are some of the most commonly used insults from both camps. Some even call it “Choices in the Squid Game,” referring to Netflix’s mega-hit survival drama in which people are killed if they lose their childish games.

What about the stakes? Rumor has it that the loser will be arrested.

“This is a terrible presidential election, with the losing candidate facing prison. Please survive this dogfight in the swamp!” High-ranking opposition politician Hong Jung-pyo wrote about this on Facebook.

Just days before Wednesday’s election, Lee Jae-myung of the liberal ruling Democratic Party and Yoon Seok-yeol of the mainstream conservative opposition People’s Power Party entered into an extremely tight race.

Their negative campaigns are exacerbating an already severe political divide in South Korea at a time when it faces a devastated, pandemic-hit economy, balancing competition between its main ally Washington and its main trading partner China, and multiple threats. and weapons testing by rival North Korea.

Opinion polls show that both candidates have more critics than supporters.

“Is our national future not too gloomy because of the unpleasant and bitter presidential elections that require a choice of the lesser of two evils?” This is stated in an editorial in the mass newspaper Dong-A Ilbo.

Yoon criticized Lee for his possible links to the allegedly corrupt land management scandal. Lee denied any connection and, in turn, tried to link Yun to the same scandal, while separately criticizing him for his alleged links to shamanism, an ancient local religious belief.

There were also attacks on the candidates’ wives, both of whom were forced to apologize for separate scandals.

Yoon called Lee’s party “Hitler” and “Mussolini”, while an associate called Lee’s supposed aides “parasites”. Lee’s allies called Yun a “beast”, “dictator”, and “empty can” and ridiculed his wife’s alleged plastic surgery.

Their campaign groups and supporters have filed dozens of lawsuits, among other charges of defamation and spreading false information.

“This year’s presidential election has been more stifled by negative campaigning than any previous election, and mutual hatred will not subside after the election,” said Choi Jin, director of the Seoul Presidential Leadership Institute.

Among the electorate’s fault lines are South Korean regional rivalries, views of North Korea, intergenerational conflict, economic inequality, and women’s rights issues.

Yoon is more popular with older voters and residents of the southeastern Gyeongsang region, where past conservative and authoritarian leaders hail from. His supporters generally favor a stronger military alliance with the United States and a harder line on North Korea, and they pay tribute to the former authoritarian rulers for the rapid economic development since the Korean War.

Lee enjoys more support from the youth and residents of Jeolla Province, a rival region to Gyeongsang in the southwest. Its supporters generally want equality with the United States and a rapprochement with North Korea, but are highly critical of the human rights record of past authoritarian rulers.

Notably, many polls showed that Yoon received higher approval ratings than Lee from voters aged 18 and 29, most of whom were born after South Korea became a developed country.

“They did not know poverty and dictatorship. … They are very critical of China and North Korea, and the US and Japan are quite friendly,” said Park Sung-min, head of Seoul-based consulting firm MIN Consulting.

Deep divisions in South Korea are reflected in the problems of the last three leaders. Their supporters say the intense investigations into corruption since they left office were politically motivated by their rivals.

While investigating family corruption, former liberal President Roh Moo-hyun fell to his death in 2009, a year after he left office. His successor, conservative Lee Myung-bak, and Lee’s conservative successor, Park Geun-hye, were separately convicted of a number of crimes, including corruption, and sentenced to lengthy prison terms after Roh’s friend and current president, Moon Jae-in, took office in 2017.

Park was pardoned in December, but Lee is still serving a 17-year prison sentence.

Moon’s government has been hit hard by a scandal involving former Justice Minister and Moon’s close associate Cho Kuk. Cho and his family members are suspected of being involved in financial crimes and forging identities to help Cho’s daughter get into medical school.

Cho was considered a reformist and a potential Liberal presidential candidate. Moon’s early attempts to keep Cho in office split the public, with his critics calling for Cho’s resignation and supporters rallying to his side during major street protests.

Yoon was originally Moon’s Attorney General and led investigations into previous Conservative governments. But he eventually left Moon’s government and joined the opposition last year after conflict with Moon’s allies over the Cho case helped him become a potential presidential candidate.

“The Cho case has become a watershed in South Korean politics. This made Yoon a presidential candidate, and many in their 20s and 30s turned their backs on Moon,” said Choi, director of the institute.

During a recent televised debate, Yoon and Lee agreed not to launch politically motivated investigations against the other side if they won. But some doubt their sincerity.

In an interview with a newspaper last month, Yoon said that if elected, his government would be investigating possible wrongdoing by the Moon government, as well as a land management scandal that Lee was allegedly involved in.

When the Moon government conducted wide-ranging investigations into past conservative governments, Li said they were necessary to root out “deep-seated evils and injustices.”

Cho Jinman, a professor at Seoul Duksung Women’s University, said the new president should exercise restraint and calm calls for political revenge from hardliners.

“Now we have an election race similar to the Squid Game, but the task of the new president is to get us out of it,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyun contributed to this report.