Fortune-telling and Korea's presidential election
The People Power Party's presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, left, and his wife Kim Kun-hee at Cheong Wa Dae in July 2019. Joint Press Corps.Fortune-tellers swirl around presidential candidates By Ko Dong-hwanOn Jan. 19, prosecutors launched an investigation of the main opposition People Power Party's (PPP) presidential candidate, Yoon Suk-yeol, for violating the country's election laws, leaking confidential government information, and abusing his authority to undermine law enforcement. The allegations, brought by the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) election camp, relate to how Yoon, then-prosecutor general, in February 2020 ordered police not to search the headquarters of Shincheonji, a fringe church blamed for a major cluster infection resulting in over 5,200 COVID-19 cases in Daegu early that year, by breaking national pandemic prevention regulations. The DPK camp, basing the charges on a report from local daily Segye Ilbo, said Yoon had deliberately not made the order because an alleged fortune-teller named Geonjin advised him not to “get your hands dirty with un
Jan 28, 2022By Ko Dong-hwan