Seoul Mayor Says Ruling Party Reform Pledge Falls Short, Urges Action
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said there has been no real change in the ruling party’s direction even after the party pledged to sever ties with former President Yoon Suk-yeol, and he urged concrete reforms from its leadership. He spoke after delivering a lecture at a High Seoul Enterprise Support briefing at The Plaza hotel in central Seoul’s Jung District on the 12th.
The day’s deadline for filing candidacy in the Seoul mayoral race was set for 6:00 PM, Oh noted, but he said he could not participate in the registration that day.
Oh argued that the party’s pledge did not translate into substantive policy shifts. He pointed to actions by party leader Jang Dong-hyuk, whom he said is moving to wind down the Ethics Committee, and he said such moves do not amount to a real change in direction.
He called for the early formation of an Innovation Election Countermeasures Committee to push through personnel reshuffles within the party, but said the leadership had not taken steps in that direction.
While acknowledging the need to respect the party’s nomination timetable, Oh said he would participate in the election but asked the party to extend the registration deadline by a day or two to allow more time for changes to take root. He stressed that prerequisites for running in the metropolitan Seoul area must be in place.
Oh also conveyed his intention to the party leadership at lunchtime, but said there had been little progress and expressed a sense of urgency that delaying action could hinder efforts to push for change.
The Seoul mayoral race is a focal point for domestic reform debates within the ruling party. For U.S. readers, the outcome could influence Seoul’s economic policy, urban governance, and the business climate in South Korea’s capital, with potential implications for foreign investment, multinational tech firms, and the broader U.S.–South Korea relationship, including security and supply-chain considerations tied to Seoul’s governance and policymaking.