Candidates' spouses take centre stage in South Korea's heated presidential race
The wife of South Korea's main conservative party candidate has taken a leading role ahead of next week's elections, campaigning on her own to tarnish the image of the liberal frontrunner and his spouse and turbocharge her husband's bid.
Last week Seol Nan-young took her unusually vocal criticism onto Saturday Night Live Kore a, joking about scandals dogging the wife of her husband's chief rival and promoting a clean family image for her spouse, conservative People Power Party (PPP) candidate Kim Moon-soo.
Kim is fighting an uphill battle to separate himself from former president Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached and removed from office over a short-lived martial law attempt in December.
Frontrunner Lee Jae-myung of the liberal Democratic Party is far ahead in the polls but he and his wife, Kim Hye-kyung, face criminal allegations. The charges are unlikely to derail Lee's candidacy but they have provided ample fodder for Seol to question his ethical standing.
Seol has made Kim Hye-kyung, who was fined for misusing a government credit card to dine at a restaurant when her husband was a provincial governor, one of her main targets. Kim has denied the charges and appealed the ruling.
'I think this is an important election, whether you choose clean, honest, upright Kim Moon-soo or another candidate who is corrupt and lies,' Seol said at a recent speaking engagement of about 400 supporters and female lawmakers who introduced her as someone who 'doesn't use a corporate credit card'.
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