South Korea’s ruling party presidential candidate on Friday called for public funding of anti-baldness treatments to prevent “discrimination” against people with hair loss.
In the midst of a tight race for the March elections, the candidate of the Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, promised to extend, in case of victory, public health coverage to these treatments, considering including expensive hair transplants.
This luxuriantly scalped former human rights lawyer asserted that people with hair loss suffer “daily discriminatory encounters (…) across all gender and age groups.”
Many Koreans use over-the-counter treatments, usually ineffective and potentially harmful, because certified cures are currently excluded from public health, Lee said.
According to his campaign team, this problem affects one in five citizens.
The proposal has provoked a wide public debate between those who support this measure and those who describe it as a “populist” and costly offer for the public system.
Lee is in a tight electoral contest with opposition candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, separated by minimal differences in most polls.
Outgoing President Moon Jae-in is legally ineligible for a second term and is due to leave office in May.
