Osuhun and Joeunhee Face Off in Debate(?)... Criticizing Park Young-sun Like a One Team

[Asia Economy Reporters Naju-seok and Park Joon-yi] In the People Power Party's Seoul mayoral primary debate, candidates Oh Se-hoon and Cho Eun-hee jointly criticized the public pledges of the Democratic Party's leading candidate Park Young-sun, citing concerns about election manipulation and other issues.

At the first head-to-head debate for the People Power Party's Seoul mayoral by-election candidates held on the 16th at the Baekbeom Kim Koo Memorial Hall, candidate Oh pointed out, "Park's 21 multi-nuclear cities seem to have followed candidate Cho's idea of 25 multi-nuclear cities," adding, "They are similar."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In response, candidate Cho said, "I was surprised to hear the pledge," and criticized, "You reduced 25 districts to 21, but I don't know how the administrative steps will work. If you're going to copy, at least copy properly."

Candidate Oh continued, "I was stunned to hear about (Park's) vertical garden," and remarked, "Urban planners have been advocating for a multi-nuclear structure where all convenience facilities exist near homes, preferably within living areas, as a trend, but it's unfortunate to call this a multi-nuclear city."

Park's pledge to supply 300,000 public housing units also came under criticism. Oh said, "To supply land for 300,000 units, at least the area of Songpa District is needed," adding, "Even if the Gyeongbu Expressway is put underground, that amount of land is absolutely impossible."

Regarding the undergrounding of the Gyeongbu Expressway, candidate Cho said, "Last July, I told Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun that this should be a national project," and criticized, "I don't know if that was overlooked, but it's too immature. They don't understand the work and only talk."

Additionally, candidate Cho criticized, "Park went to Chang-dong and promised to supply half-price apartments, but the next day, it was overturned by Democratic Party lawmaker Woo Won-shik, and a week later, they said they would build a Moderna vaccine factory there. This is election manipulation."

The Moon Jae-in administration's vaccine policy was also criticized.

Candidate Oh said, "If vaccines had been prepared diligently since the second half of last year, the public would not have been anxious," and added, "I think mass vaccination will still be impossible by November this year." Candidate Cho agreed, saying, "While 170 million people worldwide are now vaccinated, South Korea is facing a winter, spring, and summer without vaccines."

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