Oh Se-hoon and Park Young-sun, Intense Debate... Clashing in 'Malmalmal'

Democratic Party Seoul mayoral candidate Park Young-sun is seen volunteering for traffic safety in front of Bukgajwa Elementary School in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, on the 26th, with a banner of People Power Party candidate Oh Se-hoon hanging behind her. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Boryeong] The confrontation between Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate, and Park Young-sun, the Democratic Party candidate, in the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election is becoming increasingly intense. In particular, remarks made by one candidate have turned into attacks, with both sides engaging in a tense battle of words.

Park's camp has strongly criticized Oh's comments regarding the 'Naegok-dong land controversy.' On the morning of the 16th, Oh stated on Facebook, "At that time, I did not know of the existence or location of this land, and I still do not know its location." However, controversy arose when it was revealed that the Naegok-dong land was listed in Oh's public official property declaration documents filed in 2000 and 2008 as a member of the National Assembly and Seoul mayor. In response, Oh explained at a debate for opposition candidate unification held that afternoon, "Do people usually know where their in-laws' land is located?" and added, "At that time, I was not aware that my in-laws had land in Naegok-dong. I never paid attention to where this land was."

Regarding this, Park appeared on YTN Radio's 'Hwang Bo-seon's Start of a New Morning' on the 26th and continued her attack, saying, "He claims he did not know about the Naegok-dong issue, but all three claims of ignorance have been proven lies."

Since the official campaign began on the 25th, Oh's camp has also intensified its attacks on Park's remarks. When Park suggested 'unmanned supermarkets' after mentioning her part-time work at a convenience store, Kim Cheol-geun, spokesperson for the People Power Party's Seoul mayoral by-election campaign committee, issued a statement criticizing, "Why did she propose 'unmanned supermarkets' and 'smart stores' right after experiencing only a 'convenience store part-time job'? Was she trying to promote it as an achievement during her ministerial tenure?" He added, "Her remarks hurt the hearts of young people who find it difficult to get part-time jobs."

As the controversy escalated, Park's camp released a clarification, stating to the opposition, "The Seoul city government mentioned a plan to introduce 'nighttime unmanned convenience stores' with a protocol to share benefits with existing nighttime employees," and argued, "It is a form of protocol economy where agreements between store owners and employees ensure the same wages despite reduced working hours without job cuts."

Additionally, on the 25th, Park emphasized on TBS Radio's 'Kim Eo-jun's News Factory' that Oh is "a truly bad candidate for children," highlighting that he "risked the Seoul mayoral position over discriminating against children's meal provisions." This referred again to Oh's opposition to free school meals during his tenure as Seoul mayor in 2011.

Oh also launched a counterattack. He brought back into focus his remark about Park's notably low support among people in their 20s in recent polls, saying, "Isn't it because the 20s have low historical experience?" On the 27th, Oh wrote on his Facebook, "As Park said, it is not because the younger generation has low or no historical experience, but because the 20s and 30s are the biggest victims of this administration's failures and the generation most sensitive to fairness and justice, and their anger and sense of betrayal are reflected in the approval ratings."

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