Incheon mayoral candidates clash over vision for port city

The People Power Party's Yoo Jeong-bok, who is running for Incheon mayor in the June 1 local elections, speaks to people in front of Gyesan Subway Station in Incheon's Gyeyang District, May 16. Yonhap

Yoo touts 'second Hong Kong' in Incheon, while incumbent mayor Park Nam-choon pledges childcare subsidies, new subway line

By Ko Dong-hwan

As ambitious as it sounds, ruling People Power Party's (PPP) Incheon mayoral candidate Yoo Jeong-bok's "New Hong Kong City" pledge is drawing criticism from his rival, current mayor Park Nam-choon of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), that it is an empty pledge.

Vying for the title ahead of the country's local elections on June 1, Yoo, the former Incheon mayor (2014-2018), and Park, the city's current mayor from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) who is running for reelection, are locking horns with competing pledges and negative campaigning against each other.

"New Hong Kong City" is one of Yoo's campaign pledges that Park criticizes for being unfeasible. It was one of Yoo's main proposals when he announced his election bid in March: to invite companies, financial institutions and international organizations based in Hong Kong that want to distance themselves from mainland China's influence, thus making Incheon into "a second Hong Kong." He said that New Hong Kong City will be developed around the port city's western islands of Yeongjong and Ganghwa, and connected to the smaller inland cities of Songdo and Cheongra, both designated free economic zones in Incheon.

"It is for the city's regional balance," Yoo had said upon announcing the pledge. The candidate, however, didn't introduce any specific plans of how he will implement it. Park pointed this fact out, demanding Yoo to explain his proposal in terms of its budget plan and the duration of preparation required to build New Hong Kong City.

"He keeps saying he will form a task force once he gets elected," said Park on his blog on May 16, denounced Yoo for causing a ruckus by selling unrealistic pledges to Incheon residents. "He hasn't even calculated how much it will cost. His urban development projects in Geomdan and Yeongjong, which he promoted when he was the city's mayor, all failed."

Yoo, in response to Park, thanked him for bringing the public's attention to his pledge. "I guess he doesn't have anything good enough to counter my grand pledge with and so wants to find fault with it," said Yoo in a statement. "It's sad."

Yoo, Park and Lee Jeong-mi from the minor progressive Justice Party on May 16 joined a TV debate co-hosted by the Incheon Journalists Club, the Gyeonggi Journalists Club, and the Gyeonggi Journalists Association of Korea in Incheon and Gyeonggi Province for Incheon's mayoral candidates. Yoo said his No. 1 pledge is developing the city's old Jemulpo port on the country's west coast into a global port city, calling it the "Jemulpo Renaissance." The pledge includes building New Hong Kong City, as well as designating the port a free economic zone, and developing the port into a harbor city that combines culture, tradition and tourism.

On the other hand, Park said his foremost pledge is supporting parents with children in the city by providing childcare until age 12 and not making the parents spend a penny on childcare with the city's subsidization programs. "We cannot ignore the city's low birthrate problem," Park said during the debate. His other pledges include urban planning that simultaneously encompasses traffic, culture, tourism and ecology protection, as well as laying down an additional subway line and five new tram routes.

The Democratic Party of Korea's special advisor, Lee Jae-myung, left, sits beside the DPK's Park Nam-choon, the current mayor of Incheon, who is seeking reelection in the June 1 local elections, and applauds the party's launch of the general election preparation committee for constituencies in Incheon at Park's election camp office in Incheon's Michuhol District, May 16. Yonhap

With the construction of new train routes (GTX) one of the hottest issues for the city, Park promised in the debate to secure the budget from the central government to start building the infrastructure as early as possible. Yoo countered by saying he had planned during his mayoral term the country's fast-speed train KTX's service in Incheon to open this year, but Park delayed it during his mayoral term.

The Sudokwon Landfill, which has been collecting massive amounts of waste from the country's capital region (Incheon, Seoul, Gyeonggi Province) for years, and where the accumulated waste is now nearing the landfill's maximum capacity, is another problem the incoming mayor cannot avoid. Park blamed Yoo for having extended the usage of the landfill until 2025 and even longer if an alternative landfill cannot be found. Park added that during his term, he ― despite Yoo's mismanagement ― banned construction waste from being dumped at the landfill starting in 2025 as well as daily waste from being dumped starting in 2026.

"The Korea Manifesto Center (a non-profit organization that assesses how well local governments have executed mayoral pledges) gave Yoo's administration the lowest grade of 'C' and my administration the highest grade of 'SA' two years in a row," Park said during Monday's debate. "It should be easier to decide who to vote for as Incheon's mayor by comparing these grades."

On May 16, Park joined the DPK's general election preparation committee for constituencies in Incheon with the party's former presidential candidate, Lee Jae-myung, who is also running for a parliamentary seat representing the city's Gyeyang-B District in the district's June 1 by-election. Ten candidates for county and district head positions, as well as over 110 candidates running for parliamentary seats joined the committee's launching event.

Lee, who lost to the PPP's then-presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol in the March 9 presidential election by a razor-thin margin, and Park, held hands together in front of the crowd during the event in a show of collective determination to win the election against the candidates of the now-ruling PPP.

"My victory is Lee's victory," Park said during the event, referring to the pair as "one team." "Let us win the constituencies of Incheon and more in the broader capital region."

"Victory in Incheon will lead to victory in the capital region, and further in the Chungcheong and Gangwon provinces," said Lee, now the special advisor of the main opposition DPK. The former Gyeonggi Provincial Governor had a deep concern that his recent loss in the presidential election had lowered his popularity among his fellow DPK lawmakers, and said that he felt obligated to run in the by-election to help his colleagues and his supporters.

Two public opinion polls last week show that Yoo was ahead of Park. Gallup Korea's survey of Incheon residents conducted on May 13 to 14 showed that 46 percent of respondents supported Yoo and 33 percent supported Park. Metrix's survey conducted on May 12 to 13 showed that Yoo had the support of 42 percent, while Park had the support of 39 percent of respondents.

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