Kim Chongin: "Park Jumin Will Be Oh Se-hoon's Rival for Seoul Mayor... No Yielding to Cho Kuk"

Oh Se-hoon Leads with 43.2%, Cho Kuk at 41.7% in Poll
"Park Jumin Is the Leading Democratic Party Candidate"

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Democratic Party lawmaker Park Jumin. Photo by Oh Se-hoon and Park Jumin Facebook

Former People Power Party Emergency Committee Chairman Kim Chongin analyzed that Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon would be the main contender from the People Power Party, while Assemblyman Park Jumin would be the leading candidate from the Democratic Party in the upcoming Seoul mayoral race. He also assessed that there is no possibility of integration between Cho Kuk, the Emergency Committee Chairman of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, who is expected to run, and Assemblyman Park.

On the 17th, former Chairman Kim shared his thoughts on the Seoul mayoral poll featuring Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Emergency Committee Chairman Cho Kuk during an interview on CBS Radio's "Kim Hyun-jung's News Show."

According to a Media Tomato poll commissioned by News Tomato, conducted over two days from the 13th to the 14th among 1,001 adults aged 18 and over residing in Seoul, 43.2% of respondents said they would vote for Mayor Oh if he ran as the pan-conservative candidate against Cho Kuk as the pan-progressive candidate. The percentage of those who said they would vote for Emergency Committee Chairman Cho was 41.7%. "Other candidates" accounted for 4.5%, "no candidate to support" was 7.2%, and "don't know" was 3.3%.

This survey was conducted using a wireless ARS (automated response system) with virtual mobile numbers (safe numbers). The margin of error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level, and the response rate was 5.4%.

Regarding the unexpectedly close results, former Chairman Kim stated, "Such results came out because only the two candidates were matched up," adding that unless the Democratic Party gives up its candidate, Emergency Committee Chairman Cho Kuk cannot run alone.

He further commented, "As the ruling party, the Democratic Party cannot avoid fielding a candidate for the Seoul mayoral election," and added, "It will not be easy for the Democratic Party to yield the Seoul mayoral candidacy to the Cho Kuk Innovation Party. Since Emergency Committee Chairman Cho has already declared he will not pursue integration, unification will not happen."

When asked about the leading candidate within the Democratic Party, he replied, "Isn't Assemblyman Park Jumin the most likely?" He continued, "Within the People Power Party, there is no one emerging as a rival to Oh Se-hoon. Although Assemblywoman Na Kyungwon has run several times in the past, it is unclear what choice she will make."