The Tamesis
March 25, 2026
Seoul – As local elections approach, head-shaving protests return to South Korean politics. But some question the effectiveness of such protests, saying a once powerful political tool has been exploited.
The latest politician to publicly shave his head is Oh Jun-hwan, who is expected to be elected mayor of Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. Oh shaved his head in front of the People’s Power Party headquarters in Seoul on Tuesday, claiming the party dropped him from the mayoral race despite leading in multiple polls and demanding fairness in the party’s candidate selection process.
Goh is not the only conservative to refuse to accept the results of the People’s Power party’s nomination.
Former People’s Power Party lawmaker Kim Byung-wook had his head shaved on Monday after being eliminated as a candidate for mayor of Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. He also called the party’s electoral process unfair, also pointing to his performance in the polls.
Likewise, North Chungcheong Province Governor Kim Young-hwan also protested the party’s decision to exclude him from running for a seat. After his elimination was announced on March 16, King posted a video on Facebook showing his hair follicles falling out at a local barber shop on Thursday.
“Only the residents of Chungcheongbuk-do can stop me in the race… We still have hope,” his post read.
Meanwhile, current Busan Mayor Park Heung-joon also received a warm welcome in front of the main building of the National Assembly in Seoul on Monday for the first time in his two-decade political career. He condemned a move by the Liberal-controlled National Assembly to shelve a special bill aimed at incentivizing investment in Busan and improving the city’s infrastructure.
Park Geun-hye complained of discrimination in Busan as similar special bills supporting Gangwon and Jeollabuk provinces were approved by a parliamentary committee and will be introduced at the plenary session of the National Assembly.
Park’s move is apparently following the lead of Gangwon Province Governor Kim Jin-tae, who also suffered a hair loss incident in February, when he called for a special bill to incentivize investment in Gangwon Province. On March 17, Kim Jong-un was confirmed as the People’s Power Party’s candidate for re-election as governor of Gangwon Province.
Park Geun-hye is one of the party’s two contenders in the Busan mayoral race, the other being Rep. Chu Jin-woo.
As lawmakers and council members engage in heated political debate surrounding the launch of one or more major cities, some of them have chosen to back down.
Regarding the proposal to create a megacity through the administrative merger of Daejeon and Chungcheongnam Province, Daejeon City Councilor Ahn Kyung-ja of the People’s Power Party bared her scalp on February 12 to protest against the liberal group’s unilateral push to merge the two administrative agencies.
Previously, liberal politicians including Democratic Rep. Park Beom-kye also took corresponding actions to support the big city plan. Park Geun-hye announced that she would lead a newly merged major city, but he himself was cut off on February 28. However, the Clippers’ efforts ultimately came to naught as the merger effectively failed ahead of local elections in June when conservative opposition Park Geun-hye abandoned the proposal and decided not to hold any office in the upcoming local elections.
Drawing on the enduring influence of Confucian traditions, many Koreans view the act of shaving their heads as a way of expressing an unwavering commitment to a goal.
But experts today largely doubt the ability of nonviolent protests to convey political messages of determination and sacrifice. Voters, they say, fundamentally no longer believe that their bodies should be cherished as gifts from their parents.
Lee Jun-han, vice president for external affairs and political science professor at Incheon National University, told The Korea Herald: “In the past, head-shaving ceremonies were performed in such an environment, and people considered these actions to be a sign of the urgent need to make such a choice, even though it was considered a great disrespect for parents.”
“The sense of determination is not conveyed as it was in the past. … As politicians (recently) shave their heads before elections and candidate selection, it can be perceived as being far from purely motivated.”
“Voters today are likely to view this as a cliché and anachronistic performance,” said Lee Jae-moo, a political science professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. “It is questionable how much real empathy such outdated behavior can arouse.”
