Seoul: Less than a week ahead of the presidential election, online communities and the media were filled with photos of election posters that had tears through candidates’ faces or had been drawn on. “You can tell if one deliberately meant to destroy the posters when you see drawings of a mustache or cigarette burns on a candidate’s photo,” said a worker at a company that manages election posters for one of 49 constituencies in Seoul.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the worker, who asked to go by his surname Lee for fear of recognition, said he has received about a dozen reports of destroyed election posters. Though just a handful appeared to have been sullied intentionally, Lee was still startled by the stark difference with previous elections. “This is the third election I’m handling, but the first time I’ve received so many calls from the police asking me to take care of destroyed posters,” he said.

The June 3 election, which follows the ouster of former President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived mart
ial law declaration in December, takes place at a turbulent time for South Korea’s political landscape, rife with hostility and hatred between opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. As of May 23, police had caught 690 people for destroying election banners or posters and referred 12 of them to the prosecution, with one individual later arrested on related charges. This figure is roughly twice the number compared with previous elections, according to police accounts.

A company official in charge of managing election posters in a western district in Seoul noted the number of destroyed posters was far larger this time around, observing that roughly 20 had been destroyed in the district so far, including a couple that appeared to have been damaged deliberately. The official requested anonymity for fear of being disadvantaged at work during the next election.

The National Election Commission (NEC) confirmed it had asked the police to investigate 90 cases of destroyed election posters and banners as of Wednes
day, vastly exceeding the 45 cases in the 2022 presidential election. Experts attribute the surge in election crimes to steep polarization in society and a growing number of people acting out their thoughts.

Lim Myung-ho, a psychology professor at Dankook University, highlighted that denouncing or loathing an opponent is often more “efficient” than emphasizing one’s own strengths. He explained that more people are acting on what used to be inner thoughts, indicating growing unease among the populace. “When people become anxious about potentially not being able to fulfill things they assert or want, it tends to lead to action,” he added.

Lee Jae-mook, a professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, described the destroyed election posters as a “manifestation of erroneous political desire” reflecting animosity toward opponents. “Politicians employing ‘negative tactics’ and partisanship in elections will only divide the country further,” he warned.

The growing divide in political views has also led to te
rror threats and violence against politicians. Democratic Party’s (DP) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, the front-runner to replace Yoon in the upcoming election, has installed bulletproof glass panels at his campaign rallies and wears a bulletproof vest weighing over 3 kilograms. The DP claimed it received repeated threats against Lee, including one suggesting a “monster” sniper rifle with a range of up to 2 kilometers was illegally imported, although the claim was not verified by police.

The National Police Agency reported receiving 11 threats against Lee Jae-myung and one against Lee Jun-seok, the presidential candidate of the minor conservative New Reform Party (NRP). Park Kyung-mi, the DP’s election committee spokesperson, said they received specific reports of terror threats, including one of a gun smuggled through Incheon International Airport. Park cited last year’s knife attack on Lee as a factor in their emphasis on security.

Lee survived a knife attack on Jan. 2 last year, when an attacker p
osing as a supporter stabbed him in the neck during a visit to the southeastern port city of Busan. In contrast, conservative People Power Party (PPP) candidate Kim Moon-soo displayed his lack of a bulletproof vest at a rally in Gyeonggi Province last week to emphasize his accessibility. “(Kim) is giving the message that he doesn’t need excessive security, and he doesn’t hide behind bulletproof glass so that he can approach people and their livelihoods at a closer range,” said Choi Young-hae, the party’s election committee spokesperson.

Seol Dong-hoon, a sociology professor at Jeonbuk National University, noted that while terror attacks against politicians are not new, their methods have evolved and intensified due to polarization. In the past, political enforcers carried out such attacks, but now they are executed through indirect methods like instigation or demonization of the opposition.

Professor Lee Jae-mook observed that conservatives and liberals have accumulated mutual loathing due to the country’s
history of impeachments of sitting presidents. “This election has become something like a war between minds,” he lamented.