The 'Seoul Mayor's Approval Rating' with More Concerns Around

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] “When will Mayor Park Won-soon’s approval rating rise?” Since being elected as Seoul mayor in a by-election in 2011 after being a civic activist, Mayor Park has been serving as the gatekeeper of the capital city with a population of 10 million for 10 years this year. This is a question frequently asked of him.

Since taking office, Mayor Park has been evaluated as having elevated the lives of Seoul citizens through software projects rather than hardware (civil engineering) projects. In particular, he has demonstrated leadership during the MERS outbreak and the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, earning the title of a “mayor strong in times of crisis.” Moreover, in the 21st National Assembly, close aides including former Deputy Mayor for Political Affairs Ki Dong-min (re-elected), former Deputy Mayor for Administration Yoon Joon-byung, former Deputy Mayor for Political Affairs Kim Won-i, former Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Heo Young, and Chief of Staff Chun Jun-ho were elected in large numbers, providing Mayor Park with tremendous support.

However, Mayor Park has a regrettable weakness. His approval rating as a potential presidential candidate has hardly risen, drawing concern not only from Seoul city and district executives but also from employees and some citizens. One Seoul city official said, “Mayor Park works hard for the citizens of Seoul, but I don’t understand why his approval rating doesn’t seem to increase.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Park replaced his Chief of Staff with a big data expert and reshuffled his political secretariat, and recently recruited Kim Woo-young, former Eunpyeong District Mayor (Blue House Secretary), as Deputy Mayor for Political Affairs. This has naturally led to analysis that this is his final spurt toward a presidential bid.

Amid this, it was recently reported that Mayor Park held a dinner with the chairpersons of Seoul’s district councils. At this gathering, Mayor Park proposed, “Although the term of the first half chairpersons is ending, let’s continue to meet,” which was met with applause. Notably, Mayor Park caught attention by shouting “Go! Geon!” as a toast at this event. It is well known that Mayor Park respects former Prime Minister (and former Seoul Mayor) Ko Jeon to the extent that he models his mayoral duties after him.

A district council chairperson said, “The dinner between Mayor Park and the district council chairpersons was held in a very warm and friendly atmosphere,” and added that the council members suggested to Mayor Park, “Come up with ways to increase your popularity.” Perhaps due to such internal and external concerns, it is known that within Seoul City, whenever major policies are announced, they conduct internal surveys to gauge Mayor Park’s approval rating, keeping a keen eye on the situation.

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