On the 3rd, during the nationwide local elections, banners containing hatred toward minorities appeared again, fueling growing criticism over hate speech in the electoral process.

On the 15th, an emergency roundtable on responding to hate speech by politicians through campaign materials was held at the National Assembly, hosted by Representative Son Sol's office of the Progressive Party and others. Experts said that the practice of politicians inciting hatred and discrimination against specific groups to win votes keeps recurring, and they agreed that institutional safeguards and legal revisions are needed to stop it.

Hate speech and campaign materials targeting specific groups have repeatedly surfaced during election periods. In the 2018 local elections, Kim Moon soo, the Liberty Korea Party candidate for Seoul mayor, said during debates and on the stump that homosexuality is more harmful than smoking and that AIDS increases because of homosexuality. In the 2021 Seoul and Busan mayoral by elections, then prospective candidate Ahn Cheol soo opposed holding the Queer Culture Festival downtown, invoking the right to refuse and the right not to see. In this election, Seoul superintendent of education candidate Cho Jun hyuk hung a banner with the phrase expel queer homosexuality education, sparking controversy.

Park Han Hee, co director of Rainbow Action against Sexual Minority Discrimination, said that although anti sexual minority sentiment has recurred in every election, there has been almost no response at the national level, adding that if the National Election Commission had at least expressed concern, the current cycle of repeated hate might not have continued.

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In 2025, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety prepared guidelines for applying the Prohibited Advertisements (Content Prohibition) under the Outdoor Advertising Act, specifying that advertisements that promote hatred and discrimination on grounds such as sexual orientation are prohibited. However, when complaints were actually filed, local governments responded that, because they were election banners under the Public Official Election Act, action was difficult, and the National Election Commission has taken the position that determining whether something is hateful is not within its authority under the election law.

Attorney Lee Pureun of the Minority Rights Committee of Lawyers for a Democratic Society said that even under the Outdoor Advertising Act and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety guidelines alone, removal or other measures could have been possible to some extent, adding that the problem is not the total absence of a framework but that each institution is passing the buck.

Hate speech by politicians does not stop at an election tactic but leads to the stigmatization and exclusion of socially vulnerable people. According to a 2019 survey on hate speech conducted by the National Human Rights Commission, 53.1 percent of respondents who had experienced hate speech reported feeling fear, and 50.5 percent reported feeling intimidated.

Oh Kyung mi, a researcher at Open Net, said that the hate speech of politicians and senior public officials has an immense social impact incomparable to that of ordinary citizens, and that the hateful remarks of politicians can instantly shatter the solidarity and human rights awareness that civil society has built over a long time.

Experts stressed that the legislature can no longer delay discussions on setting standards for hate speech and regulating the hate mongering of politicians. Jang Ye jeong, executive director of the Coalition for the Enactment of the Anti Discrimination Act, said that the first obstacle in discussing hate regulation is the absence of standards for what constitutes hate, and that an anti discrimination act can serve to provide reference points for hate speech and discrimination.

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An official at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said that amending the law is extremely important and that the Public Official Election Act or the Political Parties Act need clearer definitions regarding hate and slanderous expressions.