Seoul Mayoral Race, Park Young-sun vs Woo Sang-ho One-on-One... Who Will Win the 'Pro-Moon' Votes?

In 2018, during the 'June 13 local elections,' Park Young-sun (right), a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who ran for Seoul mayor, and Woo Sang-ho (left), also from the same party, met and shook hands at the National Assembly Press Center. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] With Park Young-sun, Minister of SMEs and Startups, expressing her intention to resign on the 20th to run in the upcoming Seoul mayoral by-election scheduled for April, the Democratic Party's primary race has become a head-to-head contest between Minister Park and Representative Woo Sang-ho. Representative Park Jumin, who was contemplating running, declared on the same day that he would not run.

Since neither candidate is classified as 'Chinmun' (pro-Moon Jae-in faction), which is the mainstream within the party, it is widely expected that the outcome will depend on who secures the pro-Moon vote.

Minister Park expressed her intention to resign on the same day to run in the Seoul mayoral by-election. In a post on her Facebook afterward, she stated, "I truly did not want to leave, but I must. Now, I will let go of everything and head into the wilderness," revealing her intention to run for Seoul mayor.

Having served as the first female Chairperson of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee in 2012 and the first female Floor Leader in 2014, Minister Park holds two titles as the 'first female lawmaker' in these roles, which is expected to work to her advantage in the election.

Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups is greeting virtual participants at the New Year's meeting of small and medium-sized business owners held on the afternoon of the 19th at the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers Group

Meanwhile, Representative Woo's clear strength lies in his solid base within the party. As the eldest member of the Democratic Party's '86 Group' (those born in the 1960s who entered university in the 1980s), Representative Woo declared his candidacy for Seoul mayor early and has already unveiled policy pledges five times, demonstrating his presence as a candidate.

Both candidates have experience losing in the party primary for the Seoul mayoral candidacy in the June 13, 2018 local elections, making this competition expected to be fierce. In that primary, the late former Mayor Park Won-soon was confirmed as the Democratic Party candidate with an overwhelming 66.3% of the vote, while Minister Park and Representative Woo received 19.59% and 14.1%, ranking second and third, respectively.

The prevailing view is that the primary's outcome will hinge on who captures the pro-Moon vote. In particular, the Democratic Party has decided to select its candidate through a system of '50% party members' votes and 50% general public opinion polls,' ensuring that party sentiment is sufficiently reflected in the primary. This method was also applied in the April 2020 21st general election.

Amid this, Minister Park, who expressed her intention to resign on the 20th, is expected to officially announce her candidacy for Seoul mayor as early as this week and actively enter the primary race.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party will accept candidate applications over three days from the 27th to the 29th and plans to conduct preliminary candidate interviews via its YouTube channel on the 2nd of next month. Following the completion of candidate screening by the 8th, the party primary is expected to proceed in earnest from the 9th.

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