Yoon Seok-yeol Camp Sends 'Special Advisor Appointment Letter' to 6th Grade Elementary Student... "It's Absurd"

Previously Sent 'Appointment Letter' Messages to Won Hee-ryong and Jo Won-jin

On the 23rd, an online community claimed that the campaign of Yoon Seok-yeol, the People Power Party's presidential pre-candidate, sent a certificate of appointment as a special advisor for professional skills to a 6th-grade elementary school student.
Photo by Online Community Capture.

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] Controversy has arisen over claims that the Yoon Seok-yeol People Power Party presidential primary candidate’s campaign sent a certificate of appointment as a professional special advisor to a 6th-grade elementary school student.

On the 23rd, a post titled "Unbelievable... My 6th-grade daughter received an appointment certificate" was uploaded on an online community.

According to the photo revealed by the author in the post, there is a certificate attached with the message, "The Yoon Seok-yeol People’s Camp appointment certificate issued to ○○○ has arrived." This certificate was received by the author’s 6th-grade daughter via a KakaoTalk message link, containing the phrase, "You are hereby appointed as a Daegu professional special advisor of the National Integration Headquarters of the Yoon Seok-yeol People’s Camp," along with an issuance number and Yoon’s official seal.

The author said, "My wife sent me a message asking what this was, and an appointment certificate came in my 6th-grade daughter’s name," adding, "I want to cancel it immediately and protest to find out where they got the information."

Netizens who saw this reacted with comments such as, "Isn’t this a violation of election law?", "Even if it’s random, it’s unpleasant. If the region Daegu is specified, isn’t it a problem of personal information use?", and "Isn’t this a method of randomly sending appointment certificates to make people engage in political campaigning?"

Meanwhile, Yoon’s campaign had sent an appointment certificate to Won Hee-ryong, a former Jeju governor and presidential primary candidate from the same party, on the 19th. It was also reported that Jo Won-jin, the presidential candidate of Our Republican Party, received the same message.

In response, Yoon’s campaign at the time explained, "Due to COVID-19, it is difficult to meet face-to-face, so we are sending (appointment certificates) via messenger," adding, "Due to a staff member’s mistake, it was sent to a different contact number. After recognizing this, we immediately took measures such as canceling the issuance."