Park Young-sun Defeats Woo Sang-ho... Confirmed as Democratic Party Seoul Mayoral Candidate (Update)

Park Young-sun Confirmed as Final Candidate in Democratic Party Primary on 1st
Final Vote: Park Young-sun 69.56%, Woo Sang-ho 30.44%

Former Minister of SMEs and Startups Park Young-sun is declaring her candidacy for the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 26th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Koo Chae-eun, Jeon Jin-young] Former Minister of SMEs and Startups Park Young-sun was confirmed as the final candidate for the Seoul mayoral by-election on April 7th for the Democratic Party of Korea on the 1st. Park Young-sun secured her position as the final Seoul mayoral candidate after defeating lawmaker Woo Sang-ho in the Democratic Party primary, achieving this after her third attempt.

The Democratic Party Election Commission announced that, following the Seoul mayoral candidate primary held from the 26th of last month until the afternoon of the 1st, Park was confirmed as the final candidate after beating Woo. Park received 69.56% of the combined votes from party members (50%) and Seoul citizens (50%), surpassing Woo’s 30.44%.

This marks Park’s third attempt to enter the Seoul mayoral race, having previously run in 2011 and 2018. In 2011, she was the Democratic Party’s Seoul mayoral candidate but lost to independent candidate Park Won-soon during the opposition party unification process. In the 2018 Democratic Party primary, she was defeated by then-Mayor Park Won-soon.

Park’s key campaign pledge is the creation of a “21-minute compact city,” where workplaces, education, medical services, and shopping are accessible within a 21-minute commute. She also promised to supply 300,000 public apartments over five years through a land lease system at 10 million KRW per pyeong and to implement loans of 50 million KRW for small business owners, with principal repayment starting after three years.

Park, a former MBC journalist, has served as a member of the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th National Assembly and as Minister of SMEs and Startups under the Moon Jae-in administration. Notably, during the 19th National Assembly, she was the chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee and the head of the Democratic Party’s special committee on chaebol reform.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.