Park Young-sun and Woo Sang-ho Praise Late Park Won-soon's Policy as "Citizen-Centered Administration"

On the 25th, at KBS in Yeouido, Democratic Party primary candidates Park Young-sun (right) and Woo Sang-ho are posing before the debate. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-eun] Woo Sang-ho and Park Young-sun, preliminary candidates for the Seoul mayoral election from the Democratic Party of Korea, expressed positive evaluations of the policies of the late Park Won-soon, former mayor of Seoul, on the 25th. Both candidates said they would emulate the 'citizen-centered administration.'

Woo Sang-ho and Park Young-sun appeared on the KBS Democratic Party of Korea Seoul mayoral candidate primary debate that day. Woo said, "I apologize to the citizens for holding this election due to the absence of former Mayor Park," but added, "Former Mayor Park Won-soon's 10 years placed citizens at the center of city administration. Unlike previous mayors, he did not obsess over flashy landmarks but focused on creating small and large changes that permeated citizens' lives."

Woo continued, "There are many examples praised by citizens, such as free school meals, Ddareungi (public bicycles), pedestrian-friendly city, rest shelters for mobile workers, expansion of public daycare centers, and owl buses," and evaluated, "Many of former Mayor Park's policies were adopted by the central government and benchmarked by other local governments."

He emphasized, "Former Mayor Park upheld a city administration philosophy under the spirit of participation and autonomy, where citizens could participate and make direct decisions," and added, "These innovative policies should be inherited and developed."

Candidate Park also spoke positively about former Mayor Park, saying, "Seoul citizens highly praise the Ddareungi public bicycles," and evaluated, "He created policies that deeply penetrated citizens' lives, which made Seoul citizens feel 'Our Neighborhood Seoul.'"

Park added, "He was especially a warm mayor to socially vulnerable groups and people with disabilities and led the welfare system," and evaluated, "Seoul's welfare system is regarded as having led South Korea's welfare system."

However, regarding problems in Seoul city administration, Candidate Park pointed out the lack of long-term planning, while Candidate Woo criticized the shortage of public housing supply.

Park said, "The plan for Seoul's long-term plan was about to start but was halted. It needs to be supplemented," and Woo said, "There was negligence in supplying a large amount of public housing to alleviate the housing concerns of ordinary citizens."