【Editor's Note】This article is authorized by the author's own headline platform to be exclusively originally published, reproduced from the public account "Kuzhi Jiaotong University". The author is Yin Chenhuan, assistant intern of researchers at the Great Diplomatic Think Tank.
On March 9, 2022, the results of the South Korean presidential election have been released, according to the statistics released by the Central Election Management Committee of the Republic of Korea on the 10th, the candidate of the largest opposition party, the National Power Party, Yoon Seok-yue, won the 20th presidential election in South Korea. But previously, the ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung and the opposition presidential candidate Yoon Seok-yue were frequently exposed such as real estate corruption, relatives' academic qualifications fraud, witchcraft divination and other scandals, so that the 2022 presidential election was called the "most unpopular presidential election" by the Korea Times, which not only led to an embarrassing situation in which the scandal was more eye-catching relative to the candidates' respective policies, but also made the support of the two popular candidates stand for a long time, even if the final election results were counted. Yin Xiyue received 48.56% of the vote, followed by Lee Jae-ming, the candidate of the ruling Party's Common Democratic Party, with a 47.83% vote, and the gap is not very large.
South Korea's two major presidential candidates' wives have exploded scandals On the left are the ruling party candidate Lee Jae-myung and his wife, and on the right are the opposition party candidate Yoon Seok-yue and his wife
Such a situation has been extremely rare in South Korea's previous general elections, and the scandal is undoubtedly a major weapon used by both candidates against each other, bringing more variables to the already anxious campaign process. In fact, not only in this year's South Korea, almost every Western presidential election process will more or less use the scandal of the opponent as the weight of their own victory, how much role can the scandal play in the presidential election? How can leaders properly respond to the blow of scandals on their own image?
1. The 2022 South Korean presidential election
The unpopularity of candidates in this election is much higher than in past sessions. In previous elections, the final winning presidential candidates were all more favorable than non-favorable; but in this election, the two most powerful candidates are currently about twice as favorable. This is undoubtedly inseparable from the scandals that have emerged from both candidates after the official start of the South Korean presidential election. The frequent scandals even obscured the most important consideration in the electoral process – the proposed foreign policy of both sides.
(Source: South Korea's Gallup Poll No. 482, February 8-10, 2022)
Under the many unstable factors, we cannot determine where the votes of the South Korean people will go, but it is advisable to review and sort out the scandals that have been exposed by both sides, which may have a certain interpretation effect on the final election results.
(1) Lee Jae-ming, the presidential candidate of the ruling party
1. Corruption-related incidents in the Daejang-dong real estate development project in Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province
In 2015, the Seongnam Municipal Government of Gyeonggi Province, in order to promote the development of Daejang-dong real estate in its jurisdiction, established a special-purpose legal person "Seongnam No-ting" through the Qichengnam Urban Development Commune and attracted investment. However, Fire sky asset management companies easily obtained project development rights without any performance, and not only quickly obtained development licenses that usually take ten years to apply for. And in a short period of time, it received a project dividend of 404 billion won, which triggered a strong domestic controversy.
Lee Jae-myung, former governor of Han Gyeonggi Province, apologizes for his subordinates' involvement in corruption (Source @ Yonhap News Agency)
The son of former congressman Guo Shangdao was only an agent in the "Fire Sky", but he received a severance payment of 5 billion won when he left his job, which raised questions about the bribery of the project. The "Dazhuangdong" real estate corruption incident was exposed by the South Korean media at the end of September 2021 because Lee Jae-myung was the governor of Gyeonggi Province, the mayor of Seongnam, and it is precisely because of this that from November 17, 2021, South Korean prosecutors have increased their investigation into the Dazhuangdong real estate corruption case.
2. The wife uses public affairs for personal gain
Another scandal involving Lee jae-ming was his wife's use of public interest. Lee Jae-myung's wife, Kim Hye-kyung, was revealed that during her husband's 10 years as a local chief, she repeatedly summoned civil servants to do things for her, and even used the legal person credit card used for official business to declare private accounts, causing an uproar. These controversies were actually heard in local political circles as early as 10 years ago when Lee Zaiming was mayor of Seongnam. At that time, the conservative Seongnam City Councilor revealed that Kim Hye-kyung, as the mayor's wife, took the mayor's official vehicle to attend public events. However, when the councillors reviewed the official vehicle movement and occupancy records with the Seongnam City Hall to further clarify the incident, they were refused, which made the problem begin to surface.
Mr. and Mrs. Lee Jae-ming participated in the South Korean SBS variety show "Same Bed, Different Dreams" in 2017, and gained a wave of favorability (screenshot source@YouTube)
(2) Yin Xiyue, the opposition presidential candidate
1. Scandal of falsification of academic qualifications by relatives
One of the major scandals of opposition candidate Yoon Seok-yue also stemmed from his wife. Yoon Seok-wook's wife, Kim Hyun-hee, is suspected of falsifying her resume when applying for a teaching position at a Korean university, causing a domestic uproar. Earlier, South Korea's ytn TELEVISION released relevant materials submitted by Yoon Seok-wook's wife Kim Jian-hee in 2007 before she was hired as a professor at Suwon Women's University, questioning Kim's false resume. The South Korean Ministry of Education confirmed through an investigation that the academic qualifications and experience she wrote when she applied for an adjunct professor at Kookmin University were inconsistent with the facts and were improper employment.
South Korea's ytn TV station reported on Kim Jianxi's academic qualification fraud (source @ Phoenix Network)
In addition, Kim Jian-hee was later trapped in the "seven-hour recording door". In the recording, Kim Jian-hee intends to "bribe" a reporter to help her husband win, which raises questions about his interference with the campaign team in violation of the Public Office Election Law. Not only that, Yin Xiyue's mother-in-law's criminal detention on suspicion of "cheating on insurance" has also had a considerable impact on his popular support rate.
2. Gaffes and abuse of power
Another scandal involving Yoon seok-yue is related to his own alleged abuse of power. On October 22, 2021, the South Korean social group "Citizens' Action to Establish Justice and Justice" received a notice from the Crime Investigation Division of Senior Public Officials about the filing and investigation of Yoon Seok-yue, who is suspected of abusing his power and obstructing the exercise of his rights. On June 7, the group charged the Public Investigation Office with Yin Xiyue, former deputy director of the Supreme Prosecutor's Office, Zhao Nankuan, and six others suspected of interfering in the Investigation and Intelligence Policy Office of the Supreme Prosecutor's Office to conduct illegal investigations into judges, and also suspected of obstructing subsequent judicial investigations. So far, the Public Investigation Office has filed four cases to investigate Yin Xiyue, namely: Yin Xiyue is suspected of failing to investigate the fraudulent use of the assets of the fund management company "OPTIMUS", abusing his power and obstructing the investigation, suspected of instigating procurators to frame former Prime Minister Han Mingshu with perjury, and instructing prosecutors to accuse people in the ruling camp.
Public Search Office launches investigation into Yin Xiyue for suspected abuse of power (Source @ Asia Daily)
During Yin Xiyue's tenure as procurator general, the "instigation and whistle-blowing storm" in which procurators instigated opposition parties to report people from the ruling party was also constantly fermenting. Yoon Seok-yue is suspected of interfering in the election on April 3 and April 8, on two occasions, through his close associate Sun Zhunsheng, the Investigative Information Policy Officer of the Supreme Prosecutor's Office, before last year's parliamentary elections, to hand over two whistleblowing letters to the future United Party candidate, Kim Hung.
In addition, Yin Xiyue's successive gaffes in the NKP candidate debate, and his radical remarks on sensitive and important diplomatic issues have also exposed his lack of diplomatic ability. This undoubtedly aroused the resentment of voters, causing Yin Xiyue's support rate to decline seriously.
Third, the analysis of the scandal crisis response plan
(1) The cyclical nature of scandal crises
The crisis of public opinion brought about by the scandal has a significant cyclical nature, which is generally divided into three stages:
1. Gestation and generation period
The timing of the scandal being exposed has a certain degree of accident, and it can be regarded as a gestation period before the scandal breaks out, after all, there is a precondition for the existence of scandals, which may cause scandals at any time. At the beginning of the scandal, public opinion held a suspicious attitude toward the scandal itself, hoping to obtain the truth, and a large number of cases showed that this stage is the best stage to curb bad public opinion, with less investment and greater results.
2. High and fermentation period
When the scandal first occurs, it will enter a rapidly spreading stage of rapid dissemination, and even continue to ferment and produce fission effects. At this stage, effective public relations and other appropriate countermeasures are urgently needed, otherwise the consequences are unimaginable.
3. Recession and subsidence period
After the relevant countermeasures taken in the second phase, due to the release of the results of the authority, or other major events that diverted the attention of the outside world, the scandal and public opinion declined and gradually subsided. But the aftermath of this stage is also very important, involving the image of the candidates and the trust of the public, and efforts should be made to eliminate the negative impact of bad public opinion.
(2) Scandal response strategies
1. Apply the 3T principle
During the campaign, the exposure of candidate scandals is often sudden and uncertain, and this response process is also a critical period for the presentation and shaping of the leader's image. In the face of the crisis, leaders should adopt the 3T principles: "Tell your own tale", "Tell it all", "Tell it fast", quickly and timely provide detailed explanations of their own scandals, grasp the initiative of information clarification and release, and show the public that leaders have a positive attitude to deal with the crisis, which is an effective way to resolve the crisis.
In the famous "Mailgate" incident, Hillary Clinton's handling clearly violated this principle. In stark contrast to Hillary's own lagging reaction, her potential competitors are chasing the scandalous opportunity. On the night of the revelation, potential Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush tweeted two days earlier than Hillary Clinton's own tweets. The latest poll released by Quinnipiac University in the United States that year showed that after the mailgate incident was exposed, Hillary Clinton's approval rating in key election states fell. Florida voters thought Hillary clinton was dishonest, and within a month, Hillary's approval rating dropped from 53 percent to 39 percent. It can be seen that the continuous fermentation of Hillary's email storm has had an impact on her personal image far beyond her expectations.
Hillary Mailgate Incident (Source @ Google)
2. Make full use of the media
The book "Government Media Public Relations and Press Release" organized by the US State Department pointed out: "The media must publish or broadcast news whether they have your help or not. Therefore, even if it is a negative report, it is best to participate in the reporting of the event from your interests, which will help to show your correct position. If not, the media will write that 'a government official ignored our inquiries,' which fueled suspicion and rumors. Therefore, in the process of dealing with the scandal crisis, candidates should maintain effective communication with the media, proactively respond to the media's interview requests, and achieve effective communication with the public through communication with the media."
3. Treat the public sincerely
In response to scandalous events, "sincerity" is undoubtedly an important principle. Let's take Hillary Clinton's public response statement in "Mailgate" as an example. There was an arrogant gesture in her facial expressions and body language during her speech. As New York Times columnist Frank Bruni wrote in the day's comments section, "Mrs. Clinton frequently looked down at her notes in the front black folder, or looked not far away," "Under a grudging smile, she seemed to be annoyed by the attitude toward public skepticism and the steady stream of questions." And she shouldn't. ”
Journalist Frank Bruni (Source @Bing)
Therefore, candidates must avoid pretending and deliberately performing when dealing with scandals, and the statements they make also need to be carefully deliberated to avoid errors in information transmission or deviations in external interpretation. The tone must be modest and sincere, and when it is time to apologize, it must be full of sincerity to apologize in order to win the understanding and sympathy of public opinion to some extent. In particular, pay attention not to lie, otherwise being exposed will inevitably cause greater public anger and require greater efforts to win back the public's trust. Because concealing the truth often only arouses greater suspicion and continues to exacerbate the crisis.
brief summary
In the election process, the candidate's excellent personal qualities and good political image are also an important source of high "electability". A good political image of a candidate can attract the support not only of dissident voters within the party, but also of voters outside the party. With the increase of public attention and participation, the insider is constantly excavated, and the small scandals of the candidates can continue to snowball into big scandals, and their content will often be extended from one thing to other things, and the scope will often affect other people.
As the Washington Post reported on February 8 this year, "the South Korean election has reached its worst level in history, and due to vicious competition, South Korean voters are gradually exhausted, and the election is imminent, but the two sides are focused on family scandals and have failed to raise useful political issues to voters." Looking back at the South Korean presidential election, due to the mutual disclosure of the two sides, there was constant controversy about the past and relatives of the two candidates. Such excessive vicious competition and attacks on the relatives of the two candidates not only failed to win over the middle voters, but made the voters deeply suspicious of the election and deepened the voters' antipathy to the two candidates. Therefore, when the candidate scandal is exposed, the refusal to inform the public of the full picture of the incident not only does not answer the doubts of the media and the public, but also increases people's distrust and media suspicion. How to deal with their own scandal is worth the serious reflection of several candidates.