ROK the Vote 2014

It's Election Day in Korea, with governorships, district offices and mayoral offices up for grabs. Seoul mayor Park retained his seat, but I'm not here to talk about results. Instead, I have some pictures of the canvassing process. The candidates spend oodles of money to get their image (and possibly their policy platforms) into the public eye. Most ubiquitous is the large banner. They block visibility on key intersections, like this one:


As the election nears, you will see sidewalks littered (a misdemeanor offence, I think) with business card-sized adverts, that you can pull out of your wallet at the polling station in case you forgot who to vote for. The second one is at my apartuh door:


Occasionally, you find more in-depth treatments of the candidates' positions, in glossy brochures, just about the only campaigning device I'm really familiar with from the States:


Candidates' canvassers also drive around these trucks, blaring a short message from the man or woman him or herself. Occasionally, the candidate will appear in the truck personally--you can see the handrail there in the second shot.


They also blanket their gu with brigades of uniformed ajummas to politely entreat pedestrians to put in a showing for their man:


And as time winds down, the candidate may appear on the street alongside them in a last-minute effort to ROK the vote: