In South Korea, the presidential campaign polluted by scandals

Conservative candidate Yoon Suk-yeol's ties to shamanism are controversial in South Korea.

Ahn Young-joon POOL/AFP

Text by: Nicolas Rocca Follow

3 mins

As the date of the presidential election approaches in South Korea, on March 9, the campaign is polluted by scandals.

After the stories of real estate speculation, the latest controversies concern the wives of the two main candidates.

Telephone recordings, abuse of corporate assets, but also links with shamans are the stuff of Korean newspapers.

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From our correspondent in Seoul,

This is not the first time that there have been links between shamanism and politics in South Korea.

Indeed, this was already the case during the corruption scandal that led to the dismissal of President

in 2017. Her very influential confidante, Choi Soon-sil, at the heart of the controversy, was the heiress of a shamanic tradition, which made public opinion quite sensitive to the proximity of shamans to politicians.

However, already in 1992 a candidate who had lost three times had moved the grave of his father before the ballot under the advice of a shaman.

And history will remember that he won this election.

►Also read: A land scandal involving the candidates invites itself in the South Korean presidential election

Shamanism is a divisive topic in South Korea, a very Christian country.

For some, it is the ancestral religion of the country, and for others, it is just a set of superstition and ancestral beliefs.

But the fact is that the practice is still widespread, whether in the north or the south.

And South Korean shamanism has its specificities, for example it is mainly women who are shamans and they are called

here .

Compromising phone records

If these questions of shamanism appear again in an election, it is in particular because of the links that Yoon Seok-yeol, the conservative candidate, and his wife maintain with these beliefs.

Before being the champion of the right for this presidential election, he was attorney general, and according to the accusations, his decisions would have been influenced by shamans.

For example, one of them would have advised him against carrying out a search of the Shincheonji church, accused of being partly responsible for the first wave of Covid-19 in South Korea.

This same shaman would have even been part of the candidate's campaign team, accusations that the conservative camp rejects.

But all these suspicions have been reinforced by recordings of telephone conversations of the candidate's wife, published online, where she claims to be a very spiritual person who prefers to confide in shamans rather than go to the disco.

In these seven hours of recordings, she would even have explained that if her husband were elected, she would change the layout of the presidential house according to the recommendations of a shaman.

These telephone exchanges are also controversial because it is about his support for a politician convicted of rape, his criticisms of the

, and she also explains that some journalists would end up in prison if she and her husband come to power.

Races paid for with public money

But the wife of the other candidate is also in the spotlight.

In this campaign, which is not distinguished by the incredible relevance of the debates, the wife of Lee Jae-myung, the Democrat and another favorite in the polls, also makes the headlines.

This is a more classic controversy, because she is accused of having used officials to go shopping for the couple, when her husband was provincial governor.

Races paid for with public money…

►Also listen: Presidential election in South Korea: the winning bet of the online campaign?

These various scandals have not really lowered the voting intentions of the candidates who are still neck and neck in the polls just under four weeks before a very important election for the future of the Korean peninsula.

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• South Korea

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• Spiritualities