Are Seoul District Office Employees on Vacation Ahead of the June 1 Local Elections?

With 15 Days Until Local Elections, Seoul Districts Halt Events Making New Press Releases Nearly Impossible... However, Seongdong-gu Draws Attention by Regularizing Twice-Weekly PR Strategy Meetings Led by Acting Mayor Yubo-hwa (Deputy Mayor) to Produce Substantive Materials

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] With the June 1 local elections just 15 days away, the election campaign is heating up in earnest.

Accordingly, while each candidate has entered a life-or-death battle, Seoul district office officials are receiving attention for spending relatively relaxed(?) times.

An executive of a Seoul autonomous district said, "Since it is election season now, it can be regarded as a de facto vacation period with no special district office work," describing the atmosphere.

In most cases, the incumbent district mayor runs for election and the deputy district mayor acts as the district mayor, making it virtually impossible to launch new projects.

Moreover, as the election season begins, there are no events at all. Because of this, press releases produced by the district offices are extremely sparse.

Another autonomous district manager expressed difficulties, saying, "Since there are no events or new projects, it is hard to produce press releases."

Because of this, until the inauguration of the 8th popularly elected district mayor on July 1, it seems to be a "press release lean season."

In particular, the biggest concern for district office officials is which candidate will be elected and return as district mayor.

One executive also said, "Now is a vacation period to prepare for work reports and other tasks after either the current district mayor is re-elected or a new district mayor takes office on July 1."

Nevertheless, Seoul Seongdong-gu is receiving good evaluations for releasing meaningful press releases daily.

On the 17th, Seongdong-gu issued a press release titled "Start of Demolition of Ttukseom Sampyo Remicon Factory."

Not only that, but they are creating newsworthy stories almost every day.

This is interpreted as being because Yoo Bohwa, the acting district mayor of Seongdong-gu, holds press strategy meetings twice a week.

Deputy District Mayor Yoo said, "We still hold press strategy meetings weekly and take care of publicity measures."

In fact, Seoul autonomous district officials are not accustomed to promoting their own projects. Therefore, only when executives take an interest in publicity and encourage and urge them do press releases for promotion come out.

Districts where the deputy district mayor plays this role are evaluated as producing reasonably good press releases.

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