Last fall Korea's main opposition People Power Party held a series of televised debates to choose its candidate for the presidential election in March. What ended up dominating the national conversation wasn't participants' policy proposals or qualifications but a single character.
On the left palm of former prosecutor-general Yoon Seok-youl, who would go on to win the nomination, appeared a small Chinese character meaning "king"—wang 王—as if written with a pen.