With just a week remaining until the April general elections, so-called “politainers” are actively endorsing and assisting with political campaigns in a bid to garner public attention.“Politainer,” a term coined by American political scientist David Schultz in 1999, refers to a politician who is or was an entertainer, or a politician who makes extensive use of entertainment media, particularly during an election campaign. However, in Korea, it has been widely used to define entertainers who use their fame to publicly voice their support for certain political parties or candidates.Singer Kim Heung-guk has been vocal about his support of the ruling People Power Party (PPP). He has openly supported former Foreign Minister Park Jin of the PPP and Na Kyung-won, a co-chair of the ruling party’s campaign committee, among many other candidates of that party. Park is running in the Seodaemun-B constituency while Na is running in the Dongjak-B constituency. Kim also shared a parody campaign song on his YouTube channel to show support for the PPP.
Retired football star Lee Chun-soo has been helping former Land Minister Won Hee-ryong of the PPP as chair of his sponsorship association. Won is running in Incheon’s Gyeyang-B constituency. Singer Park Sang-min openly supported Kim Young-woo of the ruling PPP, who is running in the Dongdaemun-A constituency.Entertainers who are helping the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) include veteran actors Lee Won-jong, Lee Ki-young and Kim Ha-kyun. Lee Won-jong, who openly endorsed Lee Jae-myung in the 2022 presidential election, showed up in Incheon to show his support for the DPK chairman, who is now running in Incheon’s Gyeyang-B constituency. Kim has been helping DPK candidate Lee Jae-sung as chair of his sponsorship association. Lee is running for leadership in Busan’s Saha-B constituency.Some celebrities are actually running in the April 10 general elections.In mid-March, Singer Riaa said she would run as a proportional representation candidate for the Rebuilding Korea Party, while 온라인카지노 comedian Seo Seung-man announced his bid to run as a proportional representation candidate of the DPK.