Female heavyweights gear up for Seoul mayoral election

On the left is Na Kyung-won, a political heavyweight and a former four-term lawmaker with the main opposition People Power Party, and on the right is SMEs and Startups Minister Park Young-sun, a former four-term lawmaker with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea. The two female heavyweights are expected to declare their bids to run in their parties' primaires for the Seoul mayoral by-election, which has remained vacant following the suicide of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon in last July, over sexual harassment allegations raised by a former secretary. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

Female political heavyweights are gearing up for April's by-election for the Seoul mayoral post, which has remained vacant following the suicide of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon last July, over sexual harassment allegations raised by a former secretary.

As the by-election is about three months away, calls have been growing from the public and political circles for a candidate who could seek policies to protect and promote women's rights.

From the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) side, SMEs and Startups Minister Park Young-sun, a former four-term lawmaker with the DPK, is considering a run in the election. Park said in a recent media interview that she would decide whether to formally declare her bid to run in the party's primary for the Seoul mayroal by-election sometime in January.

“If the situation was okay (for the DPK), I would rather remain at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, but as the situation is not favorable (for the party) I am willing to sacrifice myself if I need to be the one who does so,” Park told news agency Yonhap in a New Year interview.

Park's previous bids for the mayoral post of the capital city were not successful in 2011 and 2018, with former Mayor Park winning both elections. But the current situation is more favorable to Minister Park, as she has been garnering high public support ratings in recent popularity polls of potential candidates for the Seoul mayoral race.

According to a survey of 800 adults by pollster Research & Research conducted by request of local newspaper Dong-A Ilbo, from Dec. 27 to 29 last year, Park was ranked second, after minor opposition People's Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo, among 13 politicians who have declared their bids or who are being mentioned as possible candidates in the upcoming election.

In the poll, Ahn and Park garnered 24.2 percent and 17.5 percent support each, followed by Na Kyung-won, a female political heavyweight with the opposition bloc and a former four-term lawmaker with the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), who garnered 14.5 percent support.

Na has yet to declare her bid to run for Seoul mayor, but is widely expected by political watchers to join the race soon.

“We need to change the leader through an election to change the policy, and changing the policy would change the lives of the people,” Na wrote on Facebook, Thursday. “Na Kyung-won will also shake off the pains of 2020 and start over with the people from now on. … I will definitely save the people.”

While other female potential candidates including former three-term lawmaker Lee Hye-hoon, Seoul's Seocho District head Cho Eun-hee and Seoul's Songpa District head Park Chun-hee have declared their bids for the party's primary for the Seoul mayroal by-election, discussions are underway inside the PPP whether to give extra points to female potential candidates in its primary election, as fielding a female candidate to represent the party could send the message that the party is committed to improving women's rights.

Meanwhile, expectations are growing over the possibility that both Park and Na would soon declare their candidacy for their parties' primaires for the Seoul mayoral by-election as the two recently finished recording for a reality TV program about their marital lives, which is seen as their moves to appeal to the public by revealing their friendly sides.