Democratic Party candidate Jung Won-oh and People Power Party candidate Oh Se-hoon, both running for Seoul mayor, campaigned for older voters on May 6 by each calling himself “Seoul’s eldest son,” while continuing to clash over housing supply.
The two appeared together in the morning at the Seoul chapter’s 54th Parents’ Day event of the Korea Senior Citizens Association at Jangchung Arena in Jung-gu. Oh arrived first, and Jung came in slightly after the opening time. They greeted each other with smiles and a handshake, but competed in their remarks.
Jung said he remembered seniors’ contributions to the country and society, adding, “When I was Seongdong district mayor, you called me Seongdong’s eldest son. Now I will become Seoul’s eldest son.”
After Jung left for another schedule, Oh told the audience, “The real eldest son of Seoul greets you,” and said his first pledge was a “healthier, higher-quality-of-life special city, Seoul.” He said he would pursue “healthy longevity” and make Seoul “the world’s longest-living city.”
The rivals also kept up their dispute over how to expand housing supply in Seoul.
Oh announced an afternoon pledge he called a “comprehensive plan to expand a housing mobility safety net” aimed at stabilizing housing for residents without homes. The plan’s centerpiece is supplying 123,000 public rental units and 6,500 public for-sale units by 2031.
For the public for-sale portion, Oh proposed a “Baro Nae Jip” model that includes land-lease apartments priced at about half of nearby market levels and installment-plan apartments requiring a 20% upfront payment. He also pledged to expand long-term jeonse housing — which he said carries no risk of jeonse fraud — from 37,000 units to 106,000 by 2031.
“With an overwhelming expansion of supply, we will lower the barriers for residents without homes to enter homeownership and greatly increase safe housing options without worries about jeonse fraud,” Oh said.
Oh also launched what he called a “Real Estate Hell Citizens Countermeasures Committee,” criticizing the real estate policies of the Lee Jae-myung government and Jung. At the committee’s kickoff news conference, Oh took aim at Jung’s pledge to expand non-apartment supply, including villas, saying many Seoul residents want newly built apartments. “Policies that ignore reality are bound to fail,” he said.
Jung’s campaign quickly pushed back.
Kim Gyuhyun, a spokesperson for Jung’s election committee, said in a statement that Oh’s side was “recklessly trying to divide” residents who live in apartments and those who do not. Kim questioned whether an apartment supply plan that takes 10 years until move-in could address the urgency of residents facing jeonse contract expirations as soon as next year.
Kim said Jung would shorten redevelopment project timelines to within 10 years and use villas, urban lifestyle housing and purchased rental housing together to pursue long-term supply while responding in the short term. He also said Jung would build “high-quality villa models” with safety, security and community features to broaden stable housing options for young people, newlyweds, one-person households and older single-person households.
Jung’s campaign also criticized Oh’s “Real Estate Hell” committee. Spokesperson Park Kyung-mi pointed to Oh as responsible for what she called failures in Seoul’s real estate policy, saying, “The more he tries to mislead public opinion with provocative words, the noose will only tighten around himself.” She added, “Distorting facts and blaming others cannot cover up the failures of a four-term mayor.”
* This article has been translated by AI.
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