Evaluation of Seoul District Mayors by Public Officials Amid Chuseok Regional Sentiments?

Evaluation of local residents and voters, including public officials and district mayors, will have a decisive impact on next year's local elections... The worst district mayor is unlikely to pass the nomination hurdle easily

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] One day has passed since Chuseok.

This Chuseok, the COVID-19 pandemic continued, making it difficult for families living in the provinces to meet.

Nevertheless, if the family is in Seoul, parents and siblings probably met even briefly to share affection.

At such gatherings, conversations naturally turn to next year’s presidential and local elections.

Among these, questions like “How is your district mayor’s personality?” or “Is the district mayor honest?” are likely to come up.

When asked such questions, if someone says, “That person’s character is really bad,” it can be assumed that the district mayor’s chances of winning next year’s election are slim.

Evaluations of a district mayor’s character, competence, and integrity spread quickly within the community.

This is because the employees involved tend to talk. Especially in Seoul’s district offices, many employees live in the same area, meaning they are voters, so their evaluations can be fatal during elections.

About ten years ago, a district mayor in Seoul made employees suffer greatly for four years, failed to receive party nomination, ran several times as an independent candidate, but repeatedly lost and reportedly faced financial difficulties.

Another district mayor served for eight years, especially troubled senior staff, failed to get nominated in the 7th local election, ran as an independent, but was decisively defeated.

Even now, district office employees have negative evaluations about their experiences during that mayor’s tenure.

When district employees label their mayor as an “abusive district mayor,” such opinions spread as local public sentiment, often ending the mayor’s political career.

District mayors who face public criticism due to personal life issues will also find it difficult to get nominated next year.

First, it is not easy to receive a nomination. A district mayor with poor evaluations from both the district office and local residents cannot maintain good relations with local members of the National Assembly.

In such cases, running as an independent and winning in Seoul elections is as difficult as a camel passing through the eye of a needle.

The local elections are just over nine months away.

Because of this, Seoul city hall officials as well as district office officials have already begun to critically evaluate the 25 district mayors over the past three years.

While some district mayors make working pleasant even doing the same job, others insult employees’ dignity. Especially, district offices that Seoul city technical officials dislike working at are clearly evaluated as problematic.

A technical official A working at a Seoul district office said, “Technical officials work at Seoul city hall and 25 autonomous districts, but many avoid working in districts with poor evaluations.”

A resident B of a Seoul district said, “If a district mayor elected through elections has a bad personality, the suffering of public officials over four years is considerable,” and predicted, “Some district mayors will find it difficult to even pass the nomination hurdle in next year’s local elections.”

Districts with major conflicts with labor unions are also expected to suffer significant damage. A union leader of a Seoul district said, “In next year’s election, we will actively select the worst district mayors based on public officials’ evaluations and urge the central party not to nominate them.”

Another current district official recently told a reporter, “We caught corruption by a subordinate agency head, but the appointing authority kept harassing us,” indicating that issues with current district mayors are already emerging.

When their terms end, such facts will pour out from public officials like a flood.

Since elections ultimately evaluate all aspects of candidates, such evaluations by employees have a decisive impact.

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