Na Kyung-won and Oh Shin-hwan Clash Over Seoul Mayoral Election 10 Years Ago: "Serve the Country First" vs "Withdraw from the Race"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Former People Power Party lawmaker Oh Shin-hwan, who announced his candidacy for Seoul mayor, and former lawmaker Na Kyung-won, considered a leading candidate for Seoul mayor, clashed over interpretations of the Seoul mayoral election results from 10 years ago. Former lawmaker Na claimed it was done with the spirit of 'Seondang Husa (先黨後私, putting party before personal interests),' while former lawmaker Oh countered that 'not running is the true Seondang Husa.'

On the 5th, former lawmaker Na raised an issue on Facebook, saying, "Regarding former lawmaker Oh's remark referring to me as 'someone who played a supporting role when Park Won-soon appeared 10 years ago,' I must clearly address this."

He took issue with a statement in former lawmaker Oh's candidacy declaration that said, "Regardless of party, when Mayor Park Won-soon appeared 10 years ago, those who stood as supporting actors have either declared their candidacy or are considering it, but this is not resolving the issue but a regression to the past." Although no names were mentioned, it appeared to refer to former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, People’s Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo, and former lawmaker Na.

In response, former lawmaker Na said, "The October 2011 Seoul mayoral by-election was held after former Mayor Oh voluntarily resigned," adding, "At that time, Professor Ahn Cheol-soo was overwhelmingly mentioned as the leading Seoul mayoral candidate due to his considerable popularity and recognition, but he gave up his candidacy, and the late Mayor Park quickly rose to become a candidate with 45% support."

He continued, "At that time, no one in the Grand National Party expected to win the Seoul mayoral election, and no matter which candidate from our party was put forward in polls, they lagged behind candidate Park by more than 20 percentage points, so no one wanted to run. In that situation, the party leader asked me to run, and I did so with the spirit of Seondang Husa," he added.

Former lawmaker Oh Shin-hwan is declaring his candidacy for Seoul mayor at the People Power Party headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 5th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

Former lawmaker Na stated, "We fought fiercely in the election and, despite the worst mudslinging, narrowed the final vote gap to 7 percentage points," adding, "It pains me deeply that the spirit of Seondang Husa is being so maligned."

In response, former lawmaker Oh posted on Facebook, "You were not pushed into a 'race where no one expected victory,' but rather suffered a come-from-behind loss in a leading election," and said, "In such a case, not running is the true Seondang Husa." The post included a screenshot of a news article from the 2011 Seoul mayoral election showing former lawmaker Na leading the late Mayor Park Won-soon by 41.7% to 37.3% within the margin of error.

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