CANDIDATES FOR SEOUL MAYORSHIP

[Anchor Lead]

With about 70 days left until the mayoral by-elections in Seoul and Busan, candidates from the ruling and opposition parties have declared their bids. The governing Democratic Party will hold a two-person race as former Minister of SMEs and Startups Park Young-sun officially announced her candidacy yesterday for Seoul mayorship. The opposition People Power Party finalized its preliminary contenders for Seoul and Busan elections.

[Pkg]

Former SMEs and Startups Minister Park Young-sun showed up wearing a coat and sneakers in her party's color: blue. She pledged to completely transform Seoul in the wake of the pandemic. Highlighting her ministerial career, she vowed to work for small and self-employed businessmen. She also pledged to restructure Seoul so that the issues of residence, workplace and childcare could be solved within a 21-minute driving distance. She faces Representative Woo Sang-ho again in a repeat of the party preliminary for Seoul mayor five years ago.

[Soundbite] PARK YOUNG-SUN(FORMER MINISTER OF SMES AND STARTUPS) : "I hope we will care for each other like siblings while running the preliminary."

Woo emphasized, while the former minister enjoys greater public recognition, surprising changes will take place once the preliminary race starts.

[Soundbite] REP. WOO SANG-HO(DEMOCRATIC PARTY(ON YTN NEWS, JAN. 26)) : "We are close and we respect each other. I think we will compete with good policies."

The main opposition People Power Party finalized its contenders for the preliminary races. Eight candidates for the Seoul mayorship and six for Busan will vie for the four seats. The party also decided to give 20% extra points or a ticket to the final preliminary round to a newcomer. The opposition bloc will also maintain its previous decision to hold the final preliminary in the form of an opinion poll on the general population.

[Soundbite] REP. CHUNG JIN-SUK(CHAIR, NOMINATION COMMITTEE, PEOPLE POWER PARTY) : "We didn’t see any case of adverse selection. The poll should be carried out on the general population."

Conservative candidates demand Park Young-sun’s apology for ex-Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon who ended his own life amid allegations of sexual offenses. Meanwhile, People’s Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo also registered for the Seoul mayorship preliminary race.