Mayor Oh Se-hoon: "At Least 3 Years Needed to Set Seoul City Right"

Seoul Mayor Confirms Re-election Bid at New Year's Press Conference
'Resetting Seoul City' to Erase Predecessor's Influence
"Achieving Half of Half the Goal, Taking the First Step is a Big Move"

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is holding a New Year's press conference at Seoul City Hall on the 7th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporters Kim Hyemin and Han Jinju] Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has set a goal to implement the ‘Seoul City Restoration’ project, which reduces budget for civic group-related projects, for at least three years.

At a New Year press conference on the 7th, Mayor Oh said, "I feel proud that from this year onward, we can run toward new goals with a focus on the ‘future.’"

Mayor Oh explained, "‘Seoul City Restoration’ is about correcting the overall issues such as budgets that have flowed habitually to vested interest groups under the name of consignment projects or subsidy projects in the past, and the disruption of the organizational atmosphere caused by such groups working within the Seoul city government. Although the city council has consistently opposed and restored a significant portion of the cut budgets, resulting in achieving only a fraction of the target, we have taken a big step by fastening the first button," he said.

Regarding the defamation lawsuit filed against him by a coalition of 1,090 civic groups nationwide, Mayor Oh stated, "Although they have used the term ‘civic groups,’ the appropriate designation considering their nature is ‘business groups.’ The organizations formed by personnel from those groups received consignment projects or subsidies, and I cannot agree with their self-proclaimed status as civic groups in their response. We evaluated inefficient and habitually conducted projects to seek desirable changes, and it is not right to continuously resist by taking issue with the terminology," he explained.

On the ‘Seoul Vision 2030’ announced last September, Mayor Oh said, "We are currently in the implementation phase and have announced comprehensive plans in areas such as autonomous driving, childcare, single-person households, climate change response, and the economy. We will continue to release sector-specific implementation plans one by one."

Regarding Seoul’s Zero Pay project, Mayor Oh said, "I do not underestimate Zero Pay and maintain the position that it must continue. Although there was consideration of personnel action against the head of the relevant department due to misunderstandings that we were trying to downsize it, it was put on hold due to opposition from the administrative director. To that extent, I have absolutely no intention of lowering the importance of Zero Pay," he explained.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is holding a New Year's press conference at Seoul City Hall on the 7th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Mayor Oh announced plans to expand redevelopment and reconstruction supply this year and emphasized the importance of the government’s role in deregulation. He said, "Seoul City has done almost everything it can, and only the central government’s share remains, such as safety inspections, the reconstruction excess profit recovery system, and the price ceiling system. Since the central government’s policy stance is very important for deregulation of reconstruction, and all candidates are pledging deregulation, I expect significant changes regardless of who wins," he said.

He added, "We have finalized applying the ‘Shintong Planning (Rapid Integrated Planning)’ to more than 50 redevelopment and reconstruction sites, and the Moa Housing project will soon enter the public contest phase. Public housing will fully implement social mix (a mix of sale and rental units), and unit numbers will be publicly drawn without distinction between sale and public housing, so that those in difficult circumstances can live satisfactorily in quality housing," he said.

Mayor Oh stated, "No citizen would think I won’t run, and last year I reported to citizens that I would plan and work on a five-year basis," effectively confirming his intention to seek re-election in June. He added, "I have not yet considered the timing or form of my candidacy, and with the presidential election schedule, I will focus on my duties until I can no longer do so," he said.

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