Korean elections are dirty, and it's not just from all the mudslinging

Economy

Published: 01 Jun. 2022, 15:27

Korean elections are dirty, and it's not just from all the mudslinging

Post boxes are filled with packages of information and promotion booklets. [GREEN KOREA]

On the morning of May 22 in an apartment complex in Anyang, Gyeonggi, a resident pulled out the information package for the June 1 election and by-election from the post box and walked straight to the recycling station. Opening the envelope, everything except the voting instructions sheet was tossed.

The bin was filled with leaflets and posters with all colors of the political rainbow.

The June 1 local elections and by-elections will result in 4,125 representatives selected to work for the local communities and, with them, tons of placards, posters and ballots to clutter streets and occupy landfills.

Environmentalists have pointed out that elections need to use less single-use promotional materials. But without any real change in regulations, elections remain one of the dirtiest, most wasteful national events to regularly take place.

Wednesday’s votes will determine elected posts including mayors and governors in 17 major cities and provinces, seven parliamentary seats and other positions such as the local assemblies.

According to the National Election Commission (NEC), 790,000 posters, 580 million leaflets and 128,000 placards were printed for this election.

Their combined total surface area would be large enough to fill the whole neighborhood of western Seoul’s Yeouido 10 times over. And if all the 10-meter (33-foot) placards were to be lined up single file, it could connect Seoul to Tokyo with its length of 1,281 kilometers (796 miles).

The amount of paper used for the promotions adds up to 12,853 tons. That would require some 210,000 30-year-old trees to make.

And who pays for the waste but the people: Taxes are used to cover the immense cost of production for these materials.

If a candidate or a party wins over 15 percent of the vote, then they are fully compensated for their promotion costs. If they receive between 10 and 15 percent, then they get a 50 percent refund.

The government paid back 293.2 billion won ($235.4 million) to candidates eligible for the compensation during the 2014 local elections and 320.3 billion won in 2018, according to the NEC. Another 300 billion won is expected to be spent this year.

Packages containing information and promotion booklets are piled up in an office of the National Election Commission in Suwon, Gyeonggi, on May 21 before being delivered. [YONHAP]

Booklets are thrown away in a box on May 22, the day after they were delivered. [JEONG JONG-HOON]

Promotional items for this election generated 18,285 tons of greenhouse emissions, according to Green Korea, an environmental nonprofit. That’s the equivalent of using 351.6 million single-use plastic cups.

The placards are particularly vexing, as they are mostly made of synthetic polyesters that do not decay even when buried. They cannot be burned easily, because they give off toxic dioxins when incinerated. Only a quarter of the placards from the 2020 legislative election were recycled.

The government chose 22 local governments to support recycling projects using the placards for the first time in March. Placards have since been turned into bags and other accessories but are not seeing high demand.

Their effectiveness is also in question.

“I do see the placards on my way to work, but I’m not sure they help in promoting the candidates,” said a 37-year-old office worker surnamed Choi.

“There were so many booklets piled up on the entrance of the apartment building, and then the janitor just threw them all away this morning,” said a 22-year-old university student surnamed Kim. “It feels like a waste to see them being [made and then] thrown away when we could have easily just seen them online.”

Despite the growing concerns over pollution, regulations concerning these placards have actually been loosened over the years. Clauses limiting the size and number of placards were slashed from the Public Official Election Act in 2005, 2010 and 2018.

Eased rules have resulted in bigger, more placards in the streets, such as the mega-sized placard of Seoul Mayor candidate Oh Se-hoon that covered almost half the Press Center building in central Seoul.

Revisions to the law have been submitted to the National Assembly, but are failing to make progress. Rep. Kang Deuk-gu of the Democratic Party put forward a bill last November to use recyclable materials and make more use of online websites, but it has not been put on the table yet.

“The political scene needs to be changed first for the economy to circulate and to cut costs,” said Lee Ji-su, an activist at Green Korea.

BY JEONG JONG-HOON, KIM YUN-GYO, YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]