Rising fruit, vegetable prices a hot issue as S. Koreans head to polls

President seen as out of touch with masses after gaffe over price of onions, a staple

- Wendy Teo

SEOUL Apples and green onions have been stirring up a storm before South Koreans head to the polls on April 10.

Apart from controversies such as a scandal over a Dior handbag gifted to First Lady Kim Keon-hee and an ongoing doctors' strike, surging food inflation amid economic stagnation has put the ruling government in a precarious position ahead of the race for seats in the National Assembly.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and his ruling People's Power Party (PPP) are hoping to win back control of the legislature from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DP).

But Mr Yoon is in a bit of a pickle after a visit to a supermarket on March 18, where he picked up a bunch of green onions priced at 875 won (87 Singapore cents) per kg and declared the price "reasonable".

This was actually a special promotional price and not a reflection of the prevailing market price of green onions, which was as high as 4,000 won per kg then.

The backlash was instant. Opposition politicians gleefully carried bunches of green onions - a staple of Korean cuisine - and ridiculed the President for being out of touch with the masses.

Early voters who went to the polls on the weekend of April 6 and 7 brought along bunches of onions, with some even holding up paper bags which held green onions and had the word "Dior" scrawled on them. The election authorities have since banned the vegetable from polling stations, citing concerns of "election interference".

South Korea has an early voting system, introduced in 2014, which allows voters to cast their ballots earlier on predetermined dates, in order to encourage higher voter turnout.

Of some 44.3 million eligible voters, 31.3 per cent have already cast their ballots through the early voting system in a record high turnout at this stage of the election. The remaining voters will submit their votes on April 10.

Inflation has emerged as a hot electoral issue.