South Korean presidential debate hits rock bottom as Yoon Suk-yeol probed over anal acupuncturist and Rasputin-like preacher

Yoon Suk-yeol, the front-runner to represent the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) in next year’s election, faces growing questions from his colleagues over his alleged reliance on superstitious practices.

The latest allegations surround video footage that shows Yoon chatting to the unlicensed anal acupuncturist Lee Byeong-hwan, and claims by the mysterious preacher known as Cheongong that he is advising the 60-year-old former prosecutor general.

Yoon is already under scrutiny after viewers of a television debate noticed he had inscribed the Chinese character Wang (meaning ‘King’) on the palm of his hand. Footage of the debate sparked allegations from rivals that Yoon was relying on a talisman to win the debate. (Yoon has denied this, though his rebuttal – he claimed a supporter had written on his hands days earlier – only led to further criticism, from opponents who accused him of ignoring hygiene during a pandemic).

In a subsequent television debate, conducted on Tuesday with other PPP presidential hopefuls, one of Yoon’s competitors, Yoo Seung-min, demanded to know whether Yoon had met either the “mysterious preacher” Cheongong or Lee Byeong-hwan, whom he described as being “known to perform acupuncture on a strange and particular area”. He also asked Yoon about news reports that he had asked a fortune-teller using the I Ching, the Chinese Book of Changes that influenced Confucianism and Taoism, to advise him on future courses of political action.