Please tone down campaign jingles!

Dozens of campaign banners hung by candidates for the June 2 local elections veil a park in Seodaemun, Seoul. Many citizens are complaining about the noise the campaigners make and name cards they distribute to publicize themselves on the streets. / Korea Times

By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff reporter

In a desperate effort to attract voter attention, candidates for the June 2 local elections have been blaring their campaign jingles out of loudspeakers installed on their vans, roaming apartment complexes and around office buildings.

Will their campaign noise help win votes? It seems many citizens do not think so.

Kim Won-ho, a 30-year-old office worker, had his weekend ruined because of the loud campaign jingles played in front of his apartment building.

"For the June 2 elections, I have to choose from eight candidates. With so many candidates vying to win seats, their campaigns seem to be louder than usual," Kim said.

Though he recognizes the need for election campaigns, he was annoyed by the unwanted noise. "I know one thing for sure - I will not vote for the city council candidate who canvassed so loudly on Saturday morning," he said.

With the elections just one week away, candidates are turning their loudspeakers' volume up to publicize their campaign pledges. However, the candidates' noisy efforts are causing discontent among many citizens.

"Every morning at my office building, candidates and their supporters are blaring out their campaign jingles. But I don't see any point as I cannot discern what they are saying. It's just noise pollution," said Lee Chul-jae, a bank official in Seoul.

Not unlawful, but no thanks

According to the National Election Commission (NEC), candidates running for mayors, provincial governors, district chiefs and city or province council members can use only one speaker. They can make speeches from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. with car speakers and from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. with portable speakers.

"For recorded songs or speeches, we reduced the hours to 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. starting in 2010 to mitigate inconveniences," an NEC official said.

Those who violate the campaign hours will face prison terms of up to two years or a fine of up to 4 million won.

However, citizens say the NEC does not reflect the voters' opinions. Cho Hyun-young, 32, said the NEC should further regulate the use of loudspeakers.

"There are other ways to get election information than street speeches. For example, there are Web sites and smart phone applications providing information on the election and I tend to learn about the candidates through the Internet, not noisy speeches and meaningless campaign songs," Cho said.

She also pointed that street electioneering does not give enough information on policies anyway.

"In most cases, the candidate himself is not in the campaign car and only canvassers dance to prerecorded songs. I don't see the point of these noisy campaign songs," Cho said.

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