Vandals target election banners of minority-supporting candidates

Oh Tae-yang, Seoul mayoral candidate from the Mirae Party, kneels beside vandalized campaign banners on a street in Seoul. Captured from Oh's blog

By Bahk Eun-ji

Police have been receiving reports of damage to election posters or placards of Seoul mayoral candidates who have presented feminist policy pledges or offered support to sexual minority groups.

The camps of those candidates denounce the vandalism of the election material as an “obvious hate crime against socially disadvantaged and minorities.

On Monday, the Mapo Police said it booked several people for destroying the campaign banners of the minor Mirae Party candidate, Oh Tae-yang.

Damaging election material is a violation of the Election Law, and violators are subject to a jail term of up to two years or a 4 million won fine.

It is alleged that the accused persons damaged Oh's campaign banners, which were hanging near Hongdae Cultural Park in Mapo District, Seoul, March 29, and burned another banner the next day. The damaged banners carried messages such as “Declaration of free city for sexual minorities, full support for same-sex marriage, prohibition of discrimination, and support for queer festivals.”

A damaged election poster for independent candidate Shin Ji-ye / Yonhap

On March 30, Oh's campaign office said about 20 banners in seven districts had been damaged. “We believe it is an organized act because all the banners in various places in Seoul were damaged in similar ways,” the campaign office said.

The police said the suspects belong to a specific religious group. They did not disclose the group's name or exactly how many people were involved in the crimes.

Oh issued a statement, “The deliberate and continuous damage to campaign banners carrying messages of support for sexual minorities is beyond intervention in the election; it is a clear hate crime aimed at bullying minorities.”

“Such hatred against politicians can lead to serious hate crimes that can threaten other members of the public's lives, so the government should come up with measures to prevent any recurrence of such acts,” he said.

Another minor candidate, independent Shin Ji-ye, said Monday that her camp had lodged a report to the police after they found Shin's poster displayed near Sogang Church in Mapo District had been torn and damaged by a sharp object.

Shin posted a photo of the damaged poster on Facebook, saying she will take stern measures against the vandalism as it is a threat to female voters as well as an attack on her.

For Shin who has called herself a “feminist candidate,” this was the third time for her election posters to be damaged. At the time of the local elections in 2018 when she joined the Seoul mayoral race, a man in his 30s was charged by the police for damaging her poster. When Shin ran for the April 15 general election last year, the eyes of her face in one of her posters were poked out.

“Only Shin's poster was damaged while other candidates' posters were not, and this reflects a misogynistic sentiment and hatred on feminism,” Shin wrote. “I will never be daunted by such an attack against feminist politics.”