Ruling party members set for Seoul mayoral by-election
From left are Rep. Woo Sang-ho of the Democratic Party of Korea, SMEs and Startups Minister Park Young-sun and Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae. Some heavyweights of the ruling party are mentioned as potential candidates for the mayoral post of the country’s capital, Seoul , including Woo, Park and Choo. Korea Times file
By Jung Da-min
After the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) decided to participate in next April's by-elections for the mayoral posts of the country's two largest cities, Seoul and Busan, eyes are now on who will be the DPK's candidates, especially for the capital city of Seoul.
Some heavyweights of the ruling party are mentioned as potential candidates, including four-term lawmaker Rep. Woo Sang-ho, SMEs and Startups Minister Park Young-sun and Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae. Woo and Park had earlier joined the party's primary race for the Seoul mayoral election in 2018 but lost to Park Won-soon, who won a third term.
The suicide of Mayor Park in July, however, following the resignation of Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don in April, both DPK members who faced sexual harassment allegations, had put the DPK in a dilemma over whether to nominate candidates for the posts in next April's by-elections.
An article of the DPK's own regulations states that the party should not field a candidate for a by-election that came about due to a party member resigning over their own wrongdoing, but the ruling party revised it through a vote among party members over the weekend, in an attempt to legitimize participation in the by-elections.
Rep. Woo was the first to express his wish to run in the Seoul election.
“If the party decides to nominate a candidate after conducting the vote among the party members, I will actively consider running in the Seoul mayoral election,” Woo said in an interview with local radio CBS, Oct. 30, a day before the DPK conducted two-day vote over the revision to party regulations.
Political watchers said Woo has a concrete support base in the DPK as being a former president of Yonsei University's student council, he is a symbolic figure among party members who engaged in pro-democracy movements in the 1980s. Woo's career as the DPK's floor leader in 2016-2017 also drew attention as he negotiated with the rival party to impeach then-President Park Geun-hye over influence-peddling and bribery scandals.
But there is a possibility that the ruling party would want to nominate a female candidate such as Minister Park or Minister Choo, because the vacancy of the mayor post is connected to sexual harassment allegations against the former Seoul Mayor and some party members believe fielding a female candidate could be a step towards realizing gender equality within the party.
Minister Park was a former four-term lawmaker and ran for the Seoul mayoral election twice, first in 2011 and again in 2018. Choo was a former five-term lawmaker and served as the leader of the DPK from 2016 to 2018.
Some predict Choo may not opt for the by-elections as she has been pushing ahead with President Moon Jae-in's prosecutorial reform policies after being appointed as the justice minister last December. Both Park and Choo have to resign from their ministerial posts to participate in the by-election.
Other relatively young members such as Rep. Park Ju-min and Rep. Park Yong-jin, both born in the 1970s, are also mentioned as possible candidates for the Seoul mayoral post.