Park Young-sun vs Oh Se-hoon, Fierce Debate Over Naegok-dong Allegations and Real Estate Without Any Concession (Comprehensive)

"There's a Witness" vs "Saminseongho"
"Real Estate Policy, It's Park Won-soon's Fault" vs "The Direction Is Correct"

[Asia Economy Reporters Naju-seok and Oh Ju-yeon] Park Young-sun, the Democratic Party candidate, and Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate, who are running in the April 7 Seoul mayoral by-election, engaged in a fierce debate during their first TV debate on the 29th. Both sides showed no concession regarding the controversy over Oh’s Naegok-dong land. While Park’s offensive was powerful on issues like Naegok-dong, Oh demonstrated strengths in policy pledge execution capabilities. Both sides exchanged heated words using expressions such as “changing words” and “lying.”

[Image source=Yonhap News]

◆ Naegok-dong Allegations Battle = On this day, Park focused on pointing out that Oh’s in-laws received additional compensation related to the Naegok-dong land and that Oh was present during the land surveying. When Park asked, “Besides the 3.65 billion won compensation, did you receive any additional compensation?” Oh replied, “No. To be precise, I don’t know. My father-in-law and mother-in-law received it, so how would I know?” Park then accused him of “changing words again” and presented a response letter from the Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH) as evidence, stating, “We received a reply that they received additional special supply of single-family residential land.”

The debate continued over whether Oh was present at the Naegok-dong land surveying site. When Park asked if he went to the site, Oh said, “I did not go.” Park pressed, “There are three witnesses (who saw you at the site).” Oh countered, “There is a Korean proverb, Sam-in-seong-ho, meaning if three people say they saw a tiger that doesn’t exist, it becomes real.” However, he also mentioned, “One must be humble in front of memory.”

Oh focused on denying that he received preferential compensation related to Naegok-dong. He said, “The Democratic Party, Park Young-sun’s campaign, and KBS raised three issues: ‘Did you buy the land to receive compensation?’ ‘Did you exert influence during your time as mayor?’ and ‘Did you receive more than the market price at the time?’” He added, “Since they cannot prove these, they cling to the surveying issue.” Park retorted, “The core of the Naegok-dong land issue is whether you lied or not, and whether you went to the surveying site or not,” accusing him of “obscuring the point.”

◆ Heated Debate Over Real Estate Policy Responsibility = The focus shifted to redevelopment and reconstruction issues regarding real estate. Oh asked, “Do you agree that the real estate price surge was due to former Mayor Park Won-soon’s hostile stance on reconstruction and redevelopment?” Park replied, “I see it as a backlash caused by the New Town frenzy during Oh Se-hoon and Lee Myung-bak’s administrations, which forced ordinary people to move somewhere else.” However, he also said, “I don’t think former Mayor Park’s real estate policy was good,” adding, “I am different.”

Oh tightened his stance on real estate policy. He repeatedly asked whether Park would change the existing Seoul city policy direction. When Oh asked, “Will you lift the excess profit recovery on reconstruction and ease safety inspections?” Park answered, “To some extent, yes.” When asked if he thought the direction of the three lease laws was correct, Park said, “I think the direction is right.” Oh criticized, “The Democratic Party leadership admitted mistakes, but you are going backward.”

Oh also mentioned Park’s pledge to limit the official land price increase to 10% and asked about freezing it. Park opposed, saying, “Freezing causes market distortion. If house prices keep rising but official land prices stay the same, that is not normal.”

When Park refused to back down on safety inspections, Oh pressed him by mentioning that even 40- or 50-year-old apartments are not allowed reconstruction, questioning if 30-year-old rental apartments would be reconstructed. Oh said, “For rental apartments over 30 years old, it is not yet time to demolish, so proposing land lease is contradictory.” He added, “Even if you build three water recycling centers, it only amounts to 10,000 households. How scarce must land be to build apartments in the middle of an interchange? Judging by this, supplying 300,000 households promised within five years, let alone 30,000, seems difficult.”

[Image source=Yonhap News]

◆ Park Young-sun’s 15 Trillion Won vs 1 Trillion Won Pledge Battle = Oh also criticized the funding for Park’s pledges. Referring to Park’s pledge to give 100,000 won per person in digital currency, Oh said, “The funding plan is problematic.” Oh asked, “There are over 100 pledges; how much do they cost per year?” Park answered, “About 4 trillion won over five years.” Oh took out panels and claimed, “The estimated annual funding for 10 representative pledges of Park is about 15 trillion won this year.” He argued, “Seoul has fixed expenditures, so even squeezing a dry towel won’t yield much. If my calculation is correct, Seoul would have to borrow money for Park’s pledges.”

Park rebutted, “Your calculation is nonsense.” She presented a pledge to partially subsidize rent reductions for small business owners, saying, “Among 640,000 small business owners, some own their premises, so not all are eligible for support,” arguing the calculation was unfair.

Oh particularly criticized Park’s vertical garden pledge. He said, “It is a luxurious building unsuitable for our mountainous country.” He mentioned, “There are mosquitoes in forests in summer, but are there no mosquitoes in vertical gardens? Some residents moved out because of mosquitoes,” asking, “Don’t you plan to withdraw it?” He added that each vertical garden costs 500 billion won, and with 21 planned, a large budget is required, which should be used for those needing help in Seoul.

◆ Intense Psychological Warfare = Throughout the debate, both sides engaged in intense psychological warfare. When Oh interrupted Park’s answer regarding the joint rental housing issue, Park expressed discomfort, saying, “Please give me time to answer, and you can ask questions later. Do Seoul citizens debate like this? Not letting me speak.” Both sides also exchanged emotionally charged words such as “Don’t label the opponent” and “Lies.”

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