South Korea has started voting for a presidential election in the shadow of the pandemic, as up to a million people with COVID-19 are expected to cast ballots during a spike driving one of the world's highest caseloads.
Voters are choosing a replacement for liberal President Moon Jae-in, who cannot run for re-election due to term limits. Moon's ruling party is represented by Lee Jae-myung.
Renewed tensions between Washington and Pyongyang have been a major setback for Moon, a dovish liberal and son of northern war refugees who staked his single presidential term on his ambitions for inter-Korean rapprochement.
A 15-second video clip in which Lee did a spoof of a hair-loss commercial sparked explosive reaction on social media as well as complaints from some experts and rival candidates that he was pushing a populist agenda.
He courted younger voters in January by calling for legalising the estimated $1 billion tattoo industry, which operates underground because South Korean law allows only doctors to perform the procedure.
Lee is especially targeting young people who joined candlelight vigils leading up to the 2017 impeachment and ouster of conservative then-president Park Geun-hye.
South Korean presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol got a boost when a rival dropped out, but if the conservative former prosecutor wins next week, it may also be thanks to "deepfake" avatars and viral short videos.
Opposition leader Yoon and the top liberal contender have gone to unusual lengths in the nation's tradition-bound politics to shed the image of grumpy old men, courting young voters who could prove decisive in what has been a close race.
The race has focussed on seeking a leader to clean up polarised politics and corruption, and tackle the runaway housing prices and deepening inequality that have dogged Asia's fourth-largest economy.
Also see | From missiles to scandals: Issues at stake in South Korea's presidential election
Analysts believe that what will propel the winner towards victory will not be his populist campaign promises or North Korea policy but what the papers have dubbed a "cycle of revenge" in South Korea's famously adversarial politics.
"This election is a battle between two opposite forces, the progressives and conservatives," said political analyst Park Sang-byoung.
South Korean presidents are allowed by law to serve a single five year term, and every living former president has been investigated and jailed for corruption after leaving office.
Outgoing President Moon Jae-in himself swept to power in 2017 after his disgraced predecessor Park Geun-hye was impeached over an influence-peddling scandal that also put a Samsung heir behind bars.
Now, Park's conservatives are eager for revenge. Ironically, their candidate Yoon was chief prosecutor under Moon and pursued Park when she was impeached, an experience that boosted his profile and popularity and pushed him to enter politics.
Yoon has encouraged people with COVID or isolating to vote, saying they could amount to millions out of more than 40 million eligible voters.
While the pandemic did not prevent big campaign rallies, leading presidential runners have run "contact-free" campaigns. Lee met supporters at a drive-in movie theatre.
Moon is spending his last days in office grappling with an unprecedented wave in coronavirus infections driven by fast-moving Omicron variant, which has stretched worn-out health workers.
The surge has come after a delta-driven spread that spiked hospitalisations and deaths in December and early January, which erased the country’s earlier epidemiological gains Moon had touted as a major accomplishment.
South Korea held a national election in 2020 and regional polls last year, with infected people required to mail in their ballots or use special polling stations at hospitals. Daily COVID infections were in the hundreds at most at that time. This week they topped 200,000.
South Korean politics has seen a "deepening division" in recent years, with elections more focused on party rivalry than policy, analyst Yoo Jung-hoon said.
"Many conservatives still hold a grudge over the impeachment of Park Geun-hye," he said.
Yoon is appealing to these disgruntled voters, offering a chance at "revenge" for Park's ousting -- even going so far as to threaten to investigate Moon for unspecified "irregularities".
"We should do it," Yoon said last month, referring to prosecuting Moon and his administration.
His comments earned a rare rebuke from the presidential Blue House and the ruling Democratic party's candidate Lee said they indicated his rival was not fit to lead the nation.
But analysts say it's just political business as usual in Seoul.
"The Moon administration has prosecuted many former officials in the name of rooting out deep-rooted corruption," Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University.
"I expect the same standard to be applied under the Yoon government should wrongdoings be found," he said.
Yoon's wife in January gave an unwitting insight into the realpolitik to come, claiming enemies and critics would be prosecuted if her husband won because that's "the nature of power," according to taped comments released after a court battle.
Polls show that voters' top concerns this election cycle are skyrocketing house prices in the capital Seoul, stagnant growth, and stubborn youth unemployment, but campaigning has been dominated by mud-slinging.
(With inputs from agencies)
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March 06, 2022 at 07:21PM
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What is `cycle of revenge` in South Korea`s famously adversarial politics? - WION
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