South Korea elections are under the shadow of martial law

The amazing feature in these elections was the main candidate for the opposition, Lee Jay Meong, who was carrying a campaign in a bullet resistant jacket.

At a newly rally, he was accompanied by the platform by close protection officers, and ready to protect him with their ballistic bags. Then he addressed the crowd from behind the bullet -resistant glass, under the look of the surface monitors.

This is not the policy of South Korea as usual. But South Korea has not been itself recently.

He is still recovering from the martial law crisis last December, when President Yun Suk Yol tried to organize a military acquisition.

He failed, due to the resistance from the public and the politicians, and was isolated, which led to these sudden elections to choose behind it.

But the chaos Yoon that he launched that night has faded.

While it was stuck in forgetting, without a president, the country became more attractive and more violent.

In street protests earlier this year, it became common for many political leaders to be executed. Since the launch of his presidential offer, I had been receiving death threats, and his team says they had discovered a reliable plot to assassinate him.

These elections are an opportunity to direct South Korea to a safer and stable floor, and to heal these fractures.

Given this, the ruling party was always struggling, marred by the coup of President Yun, who defeated itself. But instead of moving away from the former disgraceful president, the Conservative Power Party (PPP) chose a candidate that has repeatedly and repetitions of Yun and his actions.

Kim Moon Soo, the former Minister of Labor at Yoon, was the only cabinet member who refused to stand and apologize during a parliamentary hearing in martial law. He said only well in his campaign, after he won the support of Yoon General.

This elections have turned into a more referendum on martial law more than anything else. Given that most of the public rejected this step by an overwhelming majority, he also rid the path of the opposition leader Lee, who broadcast himself on the walls of the parliament complex, to enter and vote for the president’s order.

Now the Democratic Party’s politician is depicting itself as the only candidate that can ensure that this does not happen again. He said he would change the constitution to make it difficult for future presidents to declare customary rulings.

“We must prevent the return of the rebellion,” and urged the voters in its last gathering from behind the fortified glass.

These promises have withdrawn people from all over the political spectrum. “I haven’t loved me before, but since I was now trustworthy on martial law and relied on it,” said Park Sah Jong, 59, who has admitted that this is the first time that a political event was attended.

A man of his fifties said that he was a member of another younger political party, but he decided to support me this time: “He is the only person who can end the Yun Law rebellion.

The last opinion polls put me about 10 points before his opponent Kim, but he was not always very common. This is the second time that he nominated for the presidency, after losing to Yoon three years ago. He is an exciting figure, involved in a series of court cases and political scandals. There are many who do not trust him, who even hate it.

Kim, in the hope of taking advantage of this, described himself “exhibition and a fair candidate.” It is a slogan whose supporters have adopted, and many of them seem to support him not for their policies, but because it is not mine.

“I don’t like Kim, but at this stage there is no real option. The other candidate has many issues,” said an elderly woman who plans to vote in his favor.

Kim drew an unusual political road. As a student who carried out a campaign for the rights of workers, he was tortured and imprisoned under the right -wing dictatorship of South Korea in the 1980s, but he moved sharply to the right.

It was chosen by the party base, many of them are still loyal. The party leadership, which realized that it was not the best option, tried to replace it at the last minute with a more moderate and experienced politician, just for the angry members to prohibit it.

This party has left weak and divided, as many suspect that it will be divided into competing factions after the day of voting. “Didn’t we really explode?” One of the party recently told me, their face collapsed in their hands. “This is a miserable campaign.”

“The choice of Kim is the biggest mistake made by the Conservative Party in these elections, and they know this. They will have to be responsible for this decision,” said Jehongminine Kim, CEO of Korea Pro, a news and analysis service in Seoul.

I have this opportunity to raise the middle sounds. He moved his policies to the right, and even claimed that his left -wing party is, in fact, conservative.

This, despite his reputation as a strong left. He grew up in the poor neighborhoods outside Seoul, where he was working in factories instead of joining the school, a person previously transferred from American Senator Bernie Sanders.

But his previous pledges went to present a global basic income. This time, it is strange to the powerful South Korean conglomerate companies, and Chaebols. He even combined the red conservative color in its blue slogan, and hit the campaign trail wearing red and blue coaches.

He also renamed his foreign policy. His democratic party is usually cautious about the security alliance of Korea with the United States, and it is preferable to give priority to relations with China and North Korea.

But I am throwing himself as a “pragmatic” that can adapt to a changing security environment. “The United States Alliance is the backbone of our national security. It must be strengthened and deepened,” he said in a recently televised discussion.

All of this left voters and diplomats here unintended from what he really represents, and what he will do if he is elected – although this is the point.

Mrs. Kim, a Korea Pro analyst, believes that it is more honest than it may seem. “He was already high in the polls, so he didn’t need to work hard to win votes,” she said. “I think he is playing a longer game. He wants to be a famous leader, someone who can be trusted by more than half of the country.”

The collection of the country together will be the biggest challenge for those who win.

When people vote on Tuesday, it will be six months until today from their exit to the streets to resist the military acquisition.

After months of chaos, they are desperate to move forward, so that the country can start addressing urgent issues that were suspended, including tariff negotiations with US President Donald Trump.

But more than anything they hope for these elections can restore their confidence in their democracy, which has shook severely.

In the baseball game in the capital Seoul last week – it can be said that the only place where the Koreans were tribal as it is about politics – both sides were united, and they completely realize the importance of these elections.

“I am really concerned about our democracy,” said Dylan, a data engineer. “I hope we have the ability to save it and make it larger than before. My vote is part of the strength.”

A man in the mid -twenties said: “The next president needs to show people clearly and transparently what he is doing.” “We need to watch it carefully.”

If he wants me to win, and by margins, opinion polls indicate, he will have a strong mandate, as well as control of Parliament, which gives him three years to implement major political reforms.

Political analyst Mrs. Kim said this may be good to rebuild the stability of South Korea, but it will come with her own challenges.

“If he wins me, he will get a lot of strength.