Candidates running in Busan's Buk-gu A district traded sharp barbs on social media on the 30th, the final day of early voting for the June 3 local elections. Han Dong-hoon, an independent candidate, and Ha Jung-woo of the Democratic Party of Korea successively released videos targeting each other over disputes about attitudes toward voters and allegations of supporter violence.
Han posted a video on his Facebook page that day under the title "The Difference in Attitude Toward the Public." The video showed Ha conversing with a man about so-called "Upstage allegations."
When the man in the video raised the allegations, Ha replied, "Again, again, again. You have to give me time to explain. Time." When the man pressed further, asking, "If I give you a minute instead of 10 seconds, can you explain? I'm an NHN shareholder," Ha responded, "You can't even distinguish it from NHN. It's been more than 10 years since the separation."
The latter part of the video showed Han talking with a woman. The woman said, "Is Buk-gu your meal ticket?" and "Don't come here," to which Han smiled and replied, "Are you finished?" and "Go ahead, say more." The clip is seen as intended to contrast Han's response style with Ha's.
Ha hit back in turn. He posted a piece on Facebook titled "Assault of a Buk-gu Resident — Candidate Han Dong-hoon, Answer for This," along with related video and photos.
The video Ha posted features the same man who had raised the Upstage allegations at Ha's campaign stop. The man was holding a placard bearing Han's name and the number 6, and was shown assaulting a citizen with whom he had been talking on the street.
"Yesterday at Deokcheon Youth Street, a shocking incident occurred in which a pro-Han YouTuber used violence against a Buk-gu resident. Police were even called to the scene," Ha said. "Is the YouTuber who committed violence the 'volunteer' Candidate Han had been praising?" He added, "Apologize immediately to the residents of Buk-gu for the outdated illegal allegations and the violent acts of your supporters, and start by thoroughly managing your fan club. Pop-up-style politics has absolutely no place in our Buk-gu."
