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Stiff Competition? South Korea Investigates Sex Pill Bribery Claims

© AFP 2023 / Roslan RAHMAN A public relation staff shows Viagra pills at a press conference in Singapore 19 April 1999
A public relation staff shows Viagra pills at a press conference in Singapore 19 April 1999 - Sputnik International
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With Parliamentary elections approaching in South Korea, prosecutors are investigating claims that elderly voters are being bribed with erectile dysfunction pills.

South Koreans will go to the polls on Wednesday for legislative elections, and, while campaign promises are par for the course during election season, vowing to improve the sex lives of senior citizens is, at the least, an unorthodox approach.

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Officials in the city of Suwon, roughly 20 miles south of Seoul, have been accused of a vote-buying scheme involving providing elderly men with a little blue pill.

"We have yet to verify the allegations. If confirmed, this could constitute a breach of election law," said a spokesman for the Suwon Prosecutor’s office.

If proven, a key question will be how perpetrators acquired the pills, given that erectile dysfunction drugs require a prescription in South Korea.

Guilty parties could face a fine of $8,750, or up to five years in prison. Any victory achieved through fraudulent votes would be deemed invalid, and any octogenarian found guilty of accepting the bribes could be required to pay up to 50 times the value of the gift.

While the prosecutor’s office has so far refused to release the names and party affiliations of those accused of bribery, some have already accused the conservative government of President Park Geun-hye of dirty politics.

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On Monday, officials in Seoul claimed that a North Korean spymaster had defected to the South.

"He is the highest-level military official to have ever defected to the South," the official said, according to Yonhap.

This followed recent claims that a North Korean diplomat previously stationed in Africa had also defected to the South, as well as a group of 13 North Korean restaurant workers.

All of these individuals was said to have defected last year, making the timing of these announcements suspect.

"I can’t help viewing these extremely rare disclosures…as attempts to influence the election," said Cheong Seong-Chang of the Sejong Institute, according to Raw Story.

Whatever unlawful means politicians use to get people out to the polls, erectile dysfunction pills may only encourage them to stay home.

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