South Koreans watch vote count with Game of Thrones, hip hop

SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — South Koreans don’t need to be bored by hours of vote-counting and punditry that fill airtime ahead of the announcement of a winner in the country’s presidential election.

Television networks on Tuesday went out of their way to entertain on election day, including graphics that turned the candidates into Game of Thrones characters and hip hop artists.

Seoul Broadcasting System featured headshots of front-runner Moon Jae-in placed on the body of a knight similar to one in the popular medieval fantasy epic. Moon’s likeness also flew on a dragon and rode a horse as SBS showed vote counts.

SBS also dressed the five main candidates like hip hop musicians in colorful, baggy clothes in a parody of a local rapper survival TV show. When presidential candidates were not medieval knights or hip hop musicians, they wore space helmets, faced off in a curling match or flew above the urban skyline like super heroes.

Such animation is a big part of election day TV in South Korea. In past elections, SBS used themes from Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings and Romance of the Three Kingdoms in broadcasting vote counts.

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Online:

SBS live: https://youtu.be/lo7tgFI8Q9I

SBS vote count teaser: https://www.facebook.com/SBS8news/videos/1766769783338531/

Youkyung Lee, The Associated Press