[Summary] "Rushing Leads to Own Goal" vs "Stop Selective Choices" Park Young-sun vs Oh Se-hoon, Nuclear Power Plant Dispute Continues

Park Young-sun "If You Fail to Grasp the Facts, It Ends Up as an Own Goal"
Oh Se-hoon "Persuasion Comes When Internalized Values Are Advocated"

Park Young-sun, preliminary candidate for Seoul mayor from the Democratic Party of Korea. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Park Young-sun, the Democratic Party preliminary candidate, and Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party preliminary candidate, who are running in the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election, have been engaged in daily disputes over the content related to nuclear power plants in a book by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

On the 18th, Park criticized Oh on her Facebook post, saying, "While it is natural to criticize opponents during elections, if one hastily does so without properly understanding the facts, it ultimately results in self-inflicted damage."

She continued, "One particular opposition candidate has become increasingly harsh in speech and hastily criticized Bill Gates' stance on nuclear power without proper understanding, which led to being fact-checked by the media," adding, "Fact-checking is a proper social function of the press."

Earlier, Oh criticized Park regarding her citation of Bill Gates during a TV debate on the 15th while explaining her 'carbon neutrality' pledge, saying, "Did Park mention Bill Gates' words and book without knowing the content?"

He emphasized on his Facebook, "What Bill Gates has recently stressed most is that nuclear power is absolutely necessary to achieve 'carbon zero' by 2050."

He added, "Bill Gates' book states that 'there is no power generation method as efficient and eco-friendly as nuclear power,'" and sharply criticized, "'Please stop selectively picking what suits you and discarding what doesn't.'"

Seohun Oh, preliminary candidate for Seoul Mayor from the People Power Party.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

In response, Park countered, "Bill Gates is not a nuclear power enthusiast."

On her Facebook, Park criticized Oh, saying, "You are always hasty," and "You always think of only one thing and fail to see the other. Just like when you resigned ten years ago over the free school meals issue, failing to read the times."

She added, "It seems necessary to accurately grasp the content and show respect to the opponent," and responded, "Bill Gates is interested in next-generation reactors called traveling wave reactors due to the risks of nuclear power."

In reply to this claim, Oh posted again on Facebook, asking, "Candidate Park, isn't Bill Gates' next-generation reactor still nuclear power?"

He argued, "It has already been nearly a month since you declared your candidacy," and "But you are still unprepared regarding the specific implementation plans and detailed content and methods such as the 21-minute compact city, vertical garden city, and supply of 300,000 public rental housing units."

He continued, "This is why the qualifications of a Seoul mayor candidate and the Seoul mayor must be prepared," emphasizing, "Only when one advocates values internalized through their own thinking and judgment does persuasion arise."

Meanwhile, Bill Gates recently defined climate change as a major crisis for humanity in his newly published book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, and argued that achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions is the solution.

Bill Gates also warned, "If greenhouse gases are not removed in time, it could cause large-scale social unrest and chaos worldwide, including civil wars." He explained that continued excessive greenhouse gas emissions would make outdoor work during the day impossible, forcing tens of millions to migrate to other countries, which could trigger civil wars and social conflicts.

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