South Korean Politics and Elections

Election Turnout Stands at 36.7% as of 1 p.m.

Korea Times, December 19, 2007

Turnout for Wednesday's presidential election stood at 36.7 percent as of 1 p.m., the election regulator said.

The rate is far lower than that of 41.9 percent recorded at the same time during the 2002 presidential election and 47.6 percent in the 1997 presidential election.

Of 37,653,518 eligible voters across the country, 13,806,624 electors had turned out at polling stations.

The National Election Commission (NEC) is concerned that South Korea is heading for a record-low voter turnout of about 60 percent.

North Gyeongsang Province set the highest voter turnout at 43.1 percent followed by 42.4 percent in North Jeolla, 41.4 percent in South Jeolla, 41 percent in Gangwon and 39.7 percent in Daegu.

Seoul had the lowest turnout of 33.3 percent.

Voter turnout in South Korea has been on a downward trend since the direct popular vote was restored in 1987, following seven years of authoritarian rule by the Chun Doo-hwan regime.

The 1987 election saw a turnout of 89 percent in a pro-democracy atmosphere, but dropped to 81 percent in 1997 and 71 percent in 2002.

Polls will remain open until 6 p.m. Wednesday and the election regulator expects the leading candidate to emerge around 9 p.m.

GNP Seeks to Boost Voter Turnout

Korea Times, December 13, 2007

By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter

The main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) is striving to raise the voter turnout in the coming presidential election.

A latest survey conducted by the National Election Commission (NEC) indicated that the voter turnout in the Dec. 19 election is likely to be lowest among the presidential elections.

According to the survey released Wednesday, 67 percent of the respondents said they will cast their ballot on election day.

The rate is lower than the actual voter turnout in the 2002 election, which stood at 70.8 percent.

The comparable figure around this time in 2002 was 80.5 percent, about 10 percentage points higher than the actual rate in the election.

Commenting on the trend that the actual voter turnout is lower than indicated by surveys taken before the election, NEC officials predicted the actual voter turnout in next week's election could be in the lower 60 percent range.

With five days to go before the election, GNP strategists said the conservative party is considering launching an awareness campaign to encourage eligible voters living abroad to visit the country to exercise their right to vote.

Lawmakers of the pro-government United New Democratic Party (UNDP) and the GNP failed to agree on a bill to grant the right to vote to overseas residents in July.

As a result, those who are absent from the country in the course of business, profession and occupation or while on personal business or vacation cannot take advantage of voting by absentee ballot in the upcoming election.

Eligible voters abroad must come to the country if they are to cast their ballot.

GNP officials said approximately 1,500,000 eligible voters live abroad.

The party's plan to raise the voter turnout is a reflection of concerns that its nominee Lee Myung-bak's continued frontrunner position in polls could lead Lee's supporters to lose interest in the crucial election.

GNP leaders are concerned if the lackluster campaign will result in unfavorable election results for their party.

NEC officials said they also worked on several measures to boost the voter turnout.

The election watchdog sent text messages to 16 million customers of SK and KTF, the nation's two largest mobile telecommunication businesses, asking them to participate in the election.

The NEC also plans to run several television and Internet ads to raise the turnout.

hkang@koreatimes.co.kr

Candidates Woo Undecided Voters with TV Ads

Korea Times, December 2, 2007

By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter

With 16 days to go before the Dec. 19 election, major presidential candidates are battling over the most powerful campaign tool ― one-minute-long television ads ― to woo undecided voters.

There is a distinctive feature shown in the candidates' TV commercials for the 2007 presidential election: presidential hopefuls are striving to ``touch and impress'' voters by using their susceptibility to short advertisements.

In the previous presidential election, the then governing party ― the predecessor of the pro-government United New Democratic Party (UNDP) ― became the winner in television commercials by using the successful ``sense and sensibility'' campaign.

The Grand National Party (GNP) launched the same old ``propaganda-styled'' advertising in the 1997 and 2002 elections, which resulted in the party's nominee failing to appeal to the hearts and minds of voters.

Experts said the secret of the governing party's winning television commercials was the use of the so-called Cinema Verite technique.

The film technique is defined by directors who shoot non-actors in actual conversations and in natural surroundings for the advertisement.

Political observers said the ads are especially effective in wooing the undecided and swing voters as the one-minute campaigns are aired before and after prime time television shows.

They said this political campaign tactic gives voters a particular image of the candidates.

Recent polls which was taken before the presidential candidate registration said the number of undecided voters is anywhere between 20 and 25 percent of the total, and figure has gradually increased as the election comes closer.

The main opposition party, which learned painful lessons from two consecutively lost elections, has paid more attention to television campaign advertising for the December election.

The GNP hired several experts from the advertising industry to make its television commercials.

A TV ad recently televised reflects that the GNP is looking to lure susceptible voters.

An old, female owner of a small shabby restaurant located in an urban slum appearing in the TV ad is the reflection of a working class citizen.

Through the commercial, GNP nominee Lee Myung-bak pledged to transform the lackluster economy into a strong one where all working class people can make their dreams come true as long as they work hard. He does not say a word in the ad.

UNDP candidate Chung Dong-young's television ad portrays Chung as a leader in engaging the public.

The UNDP candidate launched his ``Give me a hug'' campaign through a television commercial in which Chung hugs people from all walks of life, from a vendor and a passerby walker to a child one after the other.

Strategists working for Chung explained the commercial was designed to stress his campaign theme of family and his engaging leadership that embraces all social classes.

hkang@koreatimes.co.kr

‘Politainers’ Speak Out Again in 2007 Election

Korea Times, November 28, 2007

By Yoon Won-sup
Staff Reporter

When American politics scholar David Schultz coined the term ``politainer'' in 1999, he meant a hybrid of a politician and an entertainer will represent the image politics in the media-dominating era because he predicted politicians' image will matter much more than their policies thanks to the media's influence.

The politainer is defined as a politician who is or was an entertainer, or a politician who makes extensive use of the entertainment media, particularly during a campaign, according to the online dictionary Word Spy. Here in Korea the word also covers entertainers who join a political campaign.

Schultz's prediction was valid in the 2002 presidential election and seems to be relevant in the 2007 election too as lots of entertains began openly supporting certain candidates.

Actors Moon Sung-keun and Myung Gye-nam were the perfect examples of Korean politainers who successfully played an important role in gaining support for then candidate Roh Moo-hyun during the 2002 presidential race.

They made rare speeches as actors in an aggressive way for Roh, which sometimes went under fire from the opposition.

Myung once said during a campaign, ``Entertainers who support the New Millennium Democratic Party (Roh ran for the presidency on its ticket) are entertainers of sense but entertainers who support the Grand National Party (GNP) are those of nonsense.''

Politainers in 2007

Who are the politainers in the 2007 election?

Presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak of the conservative opposition GNP is on top of the politainer ranking.

So far, some 80 entertainers declared their support for the former Seoul mayor. Well-known entertainers among them are actors such as Baek Il-sup, 63; Yu In-chon, 56; Lee Duk-hwa, 55; Chung Hung-chae, 44 and MC Lee Sang-yong, 63.

Those entertainers joined Lee's camp since Lee was competing with former