In South Korean elections, digging up dirt takes on a new meaning. It all has to do with the belief that the location of a family's ancestral grave can determine their fortunes. During last December's elections, Korean politicians apparently took this to heart, with several moving graves to places that fortune tellers said would help them get votes.
"Every individual's destiny is influenced by where that persons ancestors are buried," said Park Min-chan, an expert in "poongsoo", which is a belief that placing objects in a harmonious way with their surroundings will help tap into the mystical power of nature. Poongsoo is similar to the Chinese practice of feng shui and both mean "a reading of wind and water". Korean followers of poongsoo, however, place more emphasis on the arrangement of grave sites than followers of feng shui. Former President Kim Dae-jung, who failed twice to win an open election for the presidency called in a poongsoo expert and moved his ancestral graves. Two years later he won the presidential election.
Park was called in by one Lee Hoi-Chang in advance of the December 19 election to move the graves of nine ancestors in order to secure a good outcome in the vote. "I selected a site on a mountain. The mountain resembles a person reading a book," Park said in an interview.
54-year-old Chung Dong-young, who trailed Lee Hoi-chang and Lee Myung-bak in the polls leading up to the election, went ahead in 2005 with large-scale renovations of a family cemetery that included dozens of graves. In the final tally, he was able to improve his standings and finish second. The ancestors of eventual winner, Lee Myung-bak, were already deemed to be at rest in an already favorable spot. More graves are almost certain to be moved ahead of the April parliamentary elections.
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