Elections

I have to admit one reason I am really glad that Obama won is because it relieved my duty of having to break the news to my students that Obama isn't president anymore. They love 'O-bam-ma'!  South Korea's presidential election in December 19th and campaigning has gone into full force. It has been really interesting learning about the candidates and I thought I'd lay some Korean Political knowledge on you.

Moon's people campaigning downtown. It included a choreographed dance similar to the Macarena. 

*The following is only accurate as far as I know. I am not an expert*

There are 2 candidates. Park Guen-hye is running under the Saenuri Party. She, yes she, is the daughter one of  South Korea's previous president Park Chung Hee. Both her mother and father were assassinated. Her mother was killed on the first assassination attempt on her father seen in this video.  Her father was killed by his chief of the CIA. Wikipedia has a long list of possible reasons and who was behind the assassination. Her story seems pretty sad and one of her campaign managers died last week.

The other candidate is Moon Jae-in. Moon is running under the Democratic United Party. His family escaped from North Korean during the Korean war. He was expelled from university after he lead a protest. He wanted to be a judge but his arrest has prohibited him, even though he had extremely good marks on the Bar Exam. He has had a long career as a human rights lawyer. Also, he was Chief Secretary on civil affair under the previous president Roh Moo Hyun.

In terms of politics this article is good for a very quick overview on both candidates. The race seems to be heating up. Currently, Park is in the lead by 2 points. A very close race! I do think it would be cool to be in Korea when they had their first woman president, something that I think will take a loooong time to happen in the States.

I hope you enjoyed this small, small bit of Korean politics/history. I know writing this has made me even more curious about Korean history and politics.