South Korean presidential election roiled by coffee beans, Chanel bags and room salon
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's presidential race has devolved into personal attacks and petty disputes, drowning out meaningful policy debate after former conservative leader Yoon Suk Yeol's ouster over his martial law fiasco.
The bitter mudslinging between liberal frontrunner Lee Jae-myung and conservative opponent Kim Moon Soo escalated during Tuesday night's final presidential debate, with Lee branding Kim 'Yoon Suk Yeol's avatar' and Kim denouncing Lee as a 'harbinger of monster politics and dictatorship."
Here is a look at the words and controversies that have roiled the presidential contest as two days of early voting begins Thursday ahead of the June 3 election:
Lee roasted over coffee beans
Consistently trailing Lee in opinion polls, Kim has focused on dredging up his legal troubles and casting the outspoken Democratic Party candidate as a dangerous, hardline populist whose economic promises are detached from reality.
For days, Kim's camp has seized on what appeared to be a casual comment by Lee about the profitability of running coffee shops during a May 16 campaign rally in Gunsan city.
Lee was touting his past policy as Gyeonggi Province governor in 2019, when he relocated unlicensed food vendors from the province's popular mountain streams to clean up and revitalize tourist areas.
Lee said he offered to help vendors transition to legitimate businesses and suggested it would be far more profitable to sell coffee than their labor-intensive chicken porridge. Lee said he noted that a cup of coffee could sell for 8,000 to 10,000 won ($5.8 to $7.3), while the raw cost of beans was just 120 won (9 cents).
The remarks quickly struck a nerve in a country where the rapid spread of small coffee shops has come to symbolize the struggles of the self-employed in a decaying job market.
Kim's People Power Party accused Lee of 'driving a nail into the hearts of small business owners' by portraying coffee shops as profiteering and said he misunderstood the factors behind retail pricing.
Lee accused the conservatives of distorting his remarks, saying he was simply explaining how he had helped vendors operate in a better environment.
Kim sidesteps a Chanel bag scandal
Kim's avoidance of direct criticism of Yoon over his martial law decree has been a major source of Lee's political offensive against him.
When Yoon appeared May 21 to view a documentary film justifying his martial law decree and raising unfounded claims about how the liberals benefited from election fraud, some PPP members lamented he was practically campaigning for Lee.
Kim, formerly Yoon's labor minister, only said he would do his best as president to eliminate suspicions of alleged election fraud.
Kim also has not offered any notable reaction to various scandals surrounding Yoon's wife, Kim Keon Hee.
Prosecutors in Seoul are investigating fresh allegations that the former first lady received luxury gifts, including two Chanel bags, from a Unification Church official seeking business favors after Yoon took office in 2022.
She previously faced several other allegations including receiving a Dior bag from a Korean American pastor and involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme.
During the presidential debate, Lee claimed Yoon would return as a 'shadow ruler' behind Kim, and Kim skirted Lee's question about whether he would pardon Yoon.
Allegations from a 'room salon'
The 'room salon' is a long-standing symbol of South Korea's male-oriented nightlife culture. The expensive, private karaoke bar where hostesses drink and sing with male customers abruptly emerged as a hot election issue.
Lee's party alleged a judge handling Yoon's rebellion trial visited one of the bars in affluent southern Seoul last year with two unidentified people. It said his companions paid the bill and they were likely linked to his work as a judge, representing a conflict of interest.
The judge, Jee Kui-youn, has been at the center of bipartisan wrangling since he approved Yoon's release from prison in March and allowed him to stand his trial without physical detention.
'We should strip him of his judge robe," party spokesperson Noh Jongmyun said. "Isn't it preposterous for him to serve as chief judge for the rebellion trial where the fate of Korea's democracy lies?'
Jee denied the allegations, saying that like many ordinary people he enjoys 'samgyeopsal,' grilled pork bellies, and 'somaek,' shots mixing beer and the traditional Korean liquor soju.
Conservative critics accuse the Democratic Party of trying to tame the judiciary branch as Lee faces five criminal trials over corruption and other allegations.
Chaos over unifying candidacies
South Korea does not hold a second round of runoff elections. Subsequently, when there is a clear frontrunner it is common for two remaining rivals to launch a unified campaign in which one withdraws and supports the other in exchange for a high-profile role in the government.
With Lee maintaining a solid lead, this year's race saw a similar maneuver among conservatives, but the extremely chaotic, undemocratic manner failed and hurt Kim's campaign.
Believing Han Duck-soo, Yoon's former prime minister, had a better chance of defeating Lee, PPP leaders consisting primarily of Yoon loyalists held late night, emergency meetings to cancel Kim's nomination and push a candidacy by Han, an independent. The attempt was rejected the next day in a vote by party members.
Kim called the move 'an overnight political coup" and later made efforts to align with Lee Joon-seok, the candidate of the smaller conservative party. Lee has flatly rejected the overture.
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Beyond kids, we've also seen this in the cases of people deported to El Salvador, including Bronx resident Merwil Gutiérrez, who you've spoken about. What do we risk when we don't have proper due process for everyone in the country, U.S. citizens or not?The Constitution is the only thing that really defines us as Americans. Despite the right wing's attempts, we are not a country that is ethnically defined. We are not a country that is defined by any one person, ideology, etc., except for the Constitution. What makes America America is enshrined in that document, our freedoms. People need to understand that when the president attacks the Constitution, he is attacking our country. We all swear an oath to the Constitution. As federally elected officials, we swear an oath to uphold, to defend, to protect the Constitution of the United States. First and foremost, if the president is in any way confused about his responsibility, he should resign. 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DAMASCUS (AP) — The lifting of economic sanctions on Syria will allow the government to begin work on daunting tasks that include fighting corruption and bringing millions of refugees home, Hind Kabawat, the minister of social affairs and labor, told The Associated Press on Friday. Kabawat is the only woman and the only Christian in the 23-member cabinet formed in March to steer the country during a transitional period after the ouster of former President Bashar Assad in a rebel offensive in December. Her portfolio will be one of the most important as the country begins rebuilding after nearly 14 years of civil war. She said moves by the U.S. and the European Union in the past week to at least temporarily lift most of the sanctions that had been imposed on Syria over decades will allow that work to get started. Before, she said, 'we would talk, we would make plans, but nothing could happen on the ground because sanctions were holding everything up and restricting our work.' With the lifting of sanctions they can now move to 'implementation.' One of the first programs the new government is planning to launch is 'temporary schools' for the children of refugees and internally displaced people returning to their home areas. Kabawat said that it will take time for the easing of sanctions to show effects on the ground, particularly since unwinding some of the financial restrictions will involve complicated bureaucracy. 'We are going step by step,' she said. 'We are not saying that anything is easy -- we have many challenges — but we can't be pessimistic. We need to be optimistic.' The new government's vision is 'that we don't want either food baskets or tents after five years,' Kabawat said, referring to the country's dependence on humanitarian aid and many displacement camps. That may be an ambitious target, given that 90% of the country's population currently lives below the poverty line, according to the United Nations. The civil war that began in 2011 also displaced half the country's pre-war population of 23 million people. The U.N.'s refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates that about half a million have returned to Syria since Assad was ousted. But the dire economic situation and battered infrastructure have also dissuaded many refugees from coming back. The widespread poverty also fed into a culture of public corruption that developed in the Assad era, including solicitation of bribes by public employees and shakedowns by security forces at checkpoints. Syria's new rulers have pledged to end the corruption, but they face an uphill battle. Public employees make salaries far below the cost of living, and the new government has so far been unable to make good on a promise to hike public sector wages by 400%. 'How can I fight corruption if the monthly salary is $40 and that is not enough to buy food for 10 days?' Kabawat asked. Women and minorities The country's new rulers, led by President Ahmad al-Sharaa — the former head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, a Sunni Islamist insurgent group that spearheaded the offensive against Assad — have been under scrutiny by western countries over the treatment of Syrian women and religious minorities. In March, clashes between government security forces and pro-Assad armed groups spiraled into sectarian revenge attacks on members of the Alawite sect to which Assad belongs. Hundreds of civilians were killed. The government formed a committee to investigate the attacks, which has not yet reported its findings. Many also criticized the transitional government as giving only token representation to women and minorities. Apart from Kabawat, the cabinet includes only one member each from the Druze and Alawite sects and one Kurd. 'Everywhere I travel… the first and last question is, 'What is the situation of the minorities?'' Kabawat said. 'I can understand the worries of the West about the minorities, but they should also be worried about Syrian men and women as a whole.' She said the international community's priority should be to help Syria to build its economy and avoid the country falling into 'chaos.' 'Rebuilding our institutions' Despite being the only woman in the cabinet, Kabawat said 'now there is a greater opportunity for women' than under Assad and that 'today there is no committee being formed that does not have women in it.' 'Syrian women have suffered a lot in these 14 years and worked in all areas," she said. "All Syrian men and women need to have a role in rebuilding our institutions.' She called for those wary of al-Sharaa to give him a chance. While the West has warmed to the new president -- particularly after his recent high-profile meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump — others have not forgotten that he fought against U.S. forces in Iraq after the invasion of 2003 or that his HTS group was formed as an offshoot of al-Qaida, although it later cut ties. 'People used to call (Nelson) Mandela a terrorist, and then he became the first leader among those who freed South Africa, and after that suddenly he was no longer a terrorist," Kabawat said. She urged skeptics to "give us the same chance that you gave to South Africa.'
