Six presidential hopefuls from the ruling Democratic Party (DP) have embarked on a collective online campaign following the opening ceremony of their metaverse camp last week.

Metaverse, a combination of meta (meaning beyond) and verse (from universe), refers to a three-dimensional virtual shared world in which all activities can take place with the help of augmented- and virtual-reality services.

The DP has leased parts of "Metropolis," a metaverse program developed by South Korea's app-based home-finding platform Zigbang Co., to help each of the six candidates conduct an online election campaign without time and space restrictions.

The six candidates -- Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung, ex-DP chief Lee Nak-yon, ex-Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, ex-Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae, Rep. Kim Doo-gwan and Rep. Park Yong-jin -- participated in the opening ceremony Friday from their offices and other places, while DP Chairman Song Young-gil joined them from his office at the National Assembly.

Notably, Kim, who has self-isolated at home due to his son's COVID-19 infection, was able to get together with his rivals at the ceremony, though in the virtual space.

Moreover, all the participants were seen as free from the coronavirus jitters during the online event, as all but the Gyeonggi governor showed up without a mask.

In his congratulatory remark, Song said that the ceremony was meaningful in that the DP's presidential candidates have entered a metaverse camp for the first time in Korean politics.

Song said he expects all the candidates to actively take advantage of the metaverse program with brilliant ideas.

In response, all of the six candidates shared the view that the utilization of the unlimited online space in the metaverse camp seems to herald a new era in local political campaigning. (Yonhap)