Only Jo Jeon-hyeok Invited to Seoul Superintendent Dialogue... Jeong Geun-sik Absent from Debate

Seoul City Election Commission "No Media Polls"
Jung Geun-sik "Unfair and Biased Key Election"
Jo Jeon-hyeok "Only Followed Law and Principles"
Jung Geun-sik Boycotts Terrestrial Broadcaster Debate on the Day

Candidates running in the October 16 Seoul Superintendent of Education by-election clashed over attendance at a TV debate scheduled to air on the 7th.

Candidate Jeong Geun-sik held a press conference in front of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education on the morning of the 7th, criticizing, "They provided a promotional debate excluding other candidates," calling it an "unfair, biased, and government-influenced election." It was reported that Jeong did not attend the recorded broadcast of the KBS-hosted 'Invited Non-Candidate Debate' held at 7 p.m. the previous day.

He criticized the Seoul Metropolitan Election Commission for inviting only candidate Jo Jeon-hyeok to the 'Invited Candidate Debate' aired on terrestrial broadcasting that afternoon under the commission's supervision. To be invited to debates or discussions hosted by the Election Commission, a candidate must have an average support rate of 5% or more based on media outlet opinion polls or have received 10% or more of the vote in elections within the last four years. Since there were no media outlet opinion polls available by the 2nd, the Seoul Election Commission's position was to invite only candidate Jo, who received 23.49% of the vote in the 2022 Seoul Superintendent of Education election.

In recent opinion polls conducted by CBS and Q-K News, both candidates Jeong and Jo received support rates in the 20% range. (For detailed information, refer to the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.) However, the Seoul Election Commission did not recognize these poll results, citing the rules on the composition and operation of the Election Broadcast Debate Committee, which only accepts surveys commissioned by terrestrial TV, comprehensive programming channels, or national daily newspapers.

In response, candidate Jo posted on his Facebook that "(attendance at the debate) was simply following the law and principles." He challenged, "If you want a real showdown in a debate, let's hold a public debate. Let's have a joint 1:1 debate on conservative and progressive YouTube channels," adding, "I am willing to participate in any topic or format."

The invited candidate debate and the invited non-candidate debate will be broadcast on KBS, MBC, and SBS at 2:10 p.m. and 2:40 p.m., respectively, on the 7th.