Consequences of a Cuckoo Coup: Election Day in South Korea

No deep, in-the-weeds stuff here. Just thought some of you might like to take a look at some aspects of electioneering in Korea. The snap election is today. (A snap election due to the impeachment of conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol, after his disastrous declaration of martial law last year.)

First, you might find it interesting that celebrity endorsements generally DON’T happen here. Celebs don’t want to alienate fans.

But you can’t even go to 7-11 without being reminded of the vote.

Here in the Seoul suburbs, every neighborhood has large banners spanning street corners promoting a candidate. (Even for the minor candidates.) Candidates and their surrogates ride in flatbed Kia Bongos through neighborhoods and city streets, exhorting voters with speeches and upbeat songs through mobile PA systems.

And you get to see the full collection of candidates EVERYWHERE. (#1 is the leftist, Lee Jae Myung; #2 is the conservative candidate, Kim Moon Soo; #4 is a spoiler conservative running independent, Lee Jun Seok; #5 is hard-left progressive, Kwan Yeong Kuk; #6 has dropped out as has the missing #3; #7 is another conservative spoiler, and #8 has a business-only agenda.)

Every home in Korea has received a packet with propaganda from each candidate:

The main candidates, 1 and 2, have multi-page booklets. Candidates 4 and 5 get one big page, while 7 and 8 get a little page. This is due to their polling results. Polling is not conducted in the week leading up to the election.

But HERE is the fun part: Every one of these promotional materials MUST list criminal convictions.

This is the back of candidate 8’s sheet. See the word 사기? That means fraud. It’s a list of fraud convictions and prison sentences going back 20 years.

Only candidates 4 & 7 have no convictions. The front runner, Lee Jae Myung, has been convicted three times and is currently under three indictments, and the #2 candidate, Kim Moon Soo, has been convicted of three crimes. (Financial and campaign violations for both, though there are also three suspiciously timed deaths connected to Lee.)

If Lee wins today—and it is likely—he has a chance with a rubber-stamp parliament to extend the presidential term, and even pack the Korean Supreme Court. The Left is the Left everywhere.