Seoul mayoral election campaign kicks off, with race heating up
Park Young-sun, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's candidate for the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election, delivers a speech during a ceremony to mark the launch of her election campaign held in front of a building in Guro District, Seoul, Thursday, the first day of her official 13-day election campaign. Joint Press Corps
By Jung Da-min
The competition is heating up between rival candidates of the ruling and main opposition parties for the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election, with both candidates officially embarking on election campaigns starting Thursday. The official election period lasts for 13 days until the day before April 7, the day of the by-elections according to relevant election law.
Park Young-sun of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) started her campaign right after midnight on Thursday by visiting a young part-timer at a convenience store in Seoul to learn more about young people's ways of living and policy demands, while also listening to the difficulties of small business owners and vendors.
Oh Se-hoon of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), also kicked off his campaign right after midnight by visiting a subway train depot to help staffers' quarantine works there to prevent further spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With less than two weeks left ahead of the April 7 by-elections, the current situation is favorable to Oh, who has been taking the lead in recent opinion surveys on favorable candidates for the Seoul mayoral by-election.
Oh Se-hoon, center, the main opposition People Power Party's candidate for the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election, speaks during an election campaign in Seodaemun District, Seoul, Thursday, the first day of his official 13-day election campaign. Joint Press Corps
According to a survey of 806 adults conducted by pollster Realmeter on March 24, the day after Oh became the single unified candidate of the country's conservative opposition bloc by winning a public opinion survey against Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People's Party, Oh ranked top taking a big lead. Oh garnered 55 percent support, followed by Park with 36.5 percent.
The favorability toward Oh was especially high among respondents in their 20s, with 60.1 percent of them saying they would vote for Oh, while 21.1 percent said they would vote for Park.
The situation was different earlier in the year when Park declared her bid for the Seoul mayoral post in late January, as she had been garnering high public support ratings in popularity polls of potential candidates at the time. But her popularity has since been on the wane, especially in the wake of a speculative land purchase scandal involving employees of the state-run Korean Land and Housing Corp. (LH) which has fueled public anger toward the Moon Jae-in government and its real estate policy failures.
Park Young-sun, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea candidate for the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election, speaks with a young part-timer during her visit to a convenience store in Mapo District, Seoul, Thursday, the first day of her official 13-day election campaign. Yonhap
Adding to unfavorable conditions for Park is some DPK members' recent remarks of support for former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon who killed himself last July over sexual harassment allegations raised by his former secretary. Controversies of secondary assault against the victim of the former mayor mounted after Im Jong-seok, former chief of staff to President Moon, posted messages of support for the former mayor on Facebook on Tuesday.
Park called for Im to refrain from making such remarks in a radio interview the same day but Im again posted similar messages on Facebook the following day. Lee Nak-yon, the DPK's election strategy committee chief, said in a radio interview Thursday that Im should respect the candidate's opinion.
Oh Se-hoon, the main opposition People Power Party's candidate for the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election, helps with quarantine work to prevent the spread of COVID-19 during his visit to a subway train depot in Seongdong District, Seoul, Thursday, the first day of his official 13-day election campaign. Joint Press Corps