[Interview with Oh Se-hoon] ② "I Give Myself 50 Points for One Year... There Are More Things I Couldn't Do"

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Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon. / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunju Lee] Oh Se-hoon, the mayor of Seoul challenging the June 1 local elections, gave himself a somewhat harsh score of 50 points over the past year. Mayor Oh lamented, "There are more things I couldn't accomplish as intended," adding, "Most of the things seem to be fiercely opposed by the city council."

Mayor Oh said, "For example, the 'Seoul Run (Seoul-type Education Platform)' project was introduced as a desperate measure to close the learning gap among children from low-income families, but the city council strongly opposed it and cut the budget," adding, "As a result, we couldn't build the platform. I hope citizens understand the reality that as long as this kind of phenomenon repeats, the vision for the Seoul mayor will be difficult to realize even 10 years from now."

The past year in Seoul was a period of groundwork. Mayor Oh stated, "We focused on correcting the wrongly established practices from the previous administration, named 'Resetting Seoul City,' and on creating a master plan called 'Seoul Vision 2030,' which sets the vision and lays the foundation for Seoul's future. Separately, we also worked on the basic groundwork to solve real estate issues, which citizens consider important, focusing on these three main areas."

Although he is the incumbent mayor, he also expressed concerns about the local elections. Mayor Oh said, "Local elections tend to have low voter turnout. Since the Democratic Party supporters feel a sense of loss or deprivation from the recent presidential election defeat, they are likely to unite," but he added, "The right-wing camp, having won the presidential election and taken power, might experience some relaxation or complacency. If voter turnout decreases while the opposition unites, it won't be easy."

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