Former Sinan County Mayor WooRyang Park Granted Special Pardon, Officially Announces Candidacy for Next Year's Local Election

Seismic Shift Expected in Local Election Landscape
Spotlight Returns to Renewable Energy Resident Benefit Policies

Park Wooryang, former mayor of Sinan County.

The political landscape in Sinan County, South Jeolla Province, is expected to experience significant upheaval. This comes as WooRyang Park, former mayor of Sinan County, has been included in the Liberation Day special pardon and has officially announced his intention to run in next year's Sinan County mayoral election.

Park was unusually included as a sitting local government head in the first special pardon announced by the Lee Jaemyung administration on August 11, 2025. In March of this year, the Supreme Court upheld a prison sentence against him, resulting in the loss of his mayoral position.

Park has previously implemented resident benefit policies based on renewable energy-such as the "Sunlight Pension," "Wind Pension," and "Sunlight Child Allowance"-which became benchmarks for local governments nationwide. President Lee Jaemyung had praised these as exemplary cases of proactive administration during his presidential campaign.

At the time, then-candidate Lee commented during a campaign event in the South Jeolla region that Park "lost his mayoral position over a trivial issue" and suggested that "he created a community fund to return profits to residents, which may have drawn the central government's ire."

With the restoration of his eligibility to run for office through the pardon, Park is now able to run for Sinan County mayor in next year's election.

Park stated, "I interpret this pardon as a message from the government to achieve regional development through a basic society and renewable energy," and added, "I will run for Sinan County mayor in next year's local elections."

Given that Park has consistently stated his intention to fulfill his final public duty in his hometown, his candidacy is expected to become a significant variable in the local electoral landscape.

Meanwhile, other figures mentioned as potential candidates for the next Sinan County mayoral race include Sangjoo Lee, chair of the Sinan County Council; Hyuksung Kim, former chair of the Sinan County Council; Gwangho Jeong, former South Jeolla Provincial Assembly member; Heungbin Lim, former South Jeolla Provincial Assembly member; Yeonseon Jeong, former South Jeolla Provincial Assembly member; Taesung Kim, former member of the Democratic Party’s Truth Investigation Committee on Insurrection; Haengwon Kim, chair of the Sinan County New Maritime Development Committee; and Seokbae Park, former standing auditor of the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation.

Park previously served as Sinan County mayor twice from 2006 to 2014. After one term of not running, he was re-elected in 2018. In the 2022 re-election, he won an overwhelming 69.18% of the vote, demonstrating strong support in Sinan County.