Hong Joonpyo: "Jung Wonoh Incident Reminds Me of the 'Pig Aphrodisiac Case'... A Policy Contest Is Needed"

"Negative Campaigns May Shake Things Up, But the Right Person Will Win"

Former Daegu Mayor Hong Joonpyo expressed regret that the Seoul mayoral election is turning into a negative campaign rather than a contest of policy ideas.

Hong Jun-pyo, former mayor of Daegu. Photo by Hyunmin Kim

On May 15, former Mayor Hong wrote on his social media account regarding the Seoul mayoral election, "Just as the Moon Jae-in presidential campaign used the 'boarding house pig aphrodisiac incident,' which I had nothing to do with 50 years ago, through Druking, to frame me, I can't help but feel disappointed to see a vague incident from 30 years ago being made into the main issue of the Seoul mayoral election."

He continued, "Even though Obama ran for president after admitting to using drugs in high school, the American people overwhelmingly supported him, and even though Lee Jaemyung was prosecuted for all sorts of reasons, the people still elected him as president. The temptation to go negative always shakes up the race, but in the end, those who are meant to win will win."

Hong went on to urge, "Stop these negative debates that only leave aftereffects after the election, and focus on a policy contest," adding, "For the past 30 years, the Seoul mayoral race has always been between politicians, but this time, for the first time, a politician and an administrative expert are competing, making the outcome interesting."

Meanwhile, Jung Won-oh, the Seoul mayoral candidate from the Democratic Party of Korea, is engaged in a heated debate with Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate, over an assault case he was involved in as secretary to the Yangcheon-gu mayor in Seoul in 1995. Jung stated, "Thirty years ago, there was a dispute over differing perceptions of the 5·18 Democratic Movement with a secretary to a National Assembly member from the then Democratic Liberal Party (the predecessor to the People Power Party). In the process, I did cause harm to that secretary and a police officer." He went on to explain, "After being booked without detention, the case ended with a fine. I apologized and received forgiveness from those involved immediately after the incident, and the matter was resolved through reconciliation."

The "boarding house pig aphrodisiac incident" mentioned by Hong refers to an episode he wrote about in his autobiography, where a plan for a sex crime by his boarding house friends during his college years resurfaced and became controversial during the presidential campaign. At the time, he explained, "That incident involved students from another university who were staying at the same boarding house and tried to help their friend. I later reflected and repented for not stopping them when I heard about it."

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