Jeong Highlights Achievements of the Lee Jae Myung Administration as Oh Steps Up Pressure on Real Estate and Prosecutorial Dismissal [June 3 Local Elections]

The Seoul mayoral race appears to favor Jeong Won-oh of the Democratic Party of Korea, as approval ratings for President Lee Jae Myung continue to soar. In response, People Power Party candidate Oh Se-hoon is focusing his attacks on the president, believing that Jeong is benefiting from Lee's popularity.
On the 6th, Oh launched the Citizens' Countermeasure Committee for the Real Estate Hell at Daewang Building in Jongno District, where his campaign committee is located. He criticized the Lee Jae Myung administration's housing policy and Jeong's real estate pledges, while unveiling his own pledge, the Comprehensive Plan to Expand the Housing Mobility Safety Net.
He argued that the current administration's policies are simultaneously driving up property tax burdens, reducing jeonse supply, pushing monthly rents higher, and tightening lending rules. As alternatives, he proposed expanding supply, preventing jeonse fraud, and increasing the use of the Housing and Urban Fund.
Regarding Jeong's "Chakchak Development" pledge, Oh said, "From district designation to the establishment of a union, project approval, management and disposal approval, relocation, demolition and construction, the process inherently requires time at each stage. It is unrealistic to claim that this can be shortened by changing the law." Referring to his earlier proposal for a one-on-one debate, he added, "Such lies will be exposed in a debate."
Along with his criticism of real estate policy, Oh is also intensifying pressure on Lee over calls to dismiss the prosecution's case. He argues that the Special Prosecutor Bill for Fabricated Indictments, being pushed by the DPK, is an attempt to pressure prosecutors into dropping the case against Lee. The move is also aimed at drawing support for a public resistance campaign, involving not only the People Power Party but also mayoral candidates from the Reform Party.
The strategy is designed to strike at Lee, the driving force behind the DPK, while also seeking a conservative consolidation effect through a joint opposition front. Observers say this could also pave the way for a smooth unification between Oh and Reform Party candidate Kim Jeong-cheol.
Jeong, meanwhile, is criticizing Oh's five years in office while emphasizing the achievements of the Lee Jae Myung administration, including efforts to boost the stock market, in an attempt to maximize the halo effect. On the previous day, Jeong visited the Korea Exchange (KRX) and said that reaching 7,000 on the KOSPI Composite Index, which some had called impossible, was becoming reality under DPK leadership. He also promised support from the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Later that day, lawmaker Kim Dong-ah, who serves as a spokesperson for Jeong's campaign committee, cited the KOSPI's move toward 7,000 and said, "What Seoul needs is an overwhelming future strategy that will lead the KOSPI Composite Index into the 10,000 era, but Oh offers nothing more than outdated display politics, such as a giant Taegeukgi flagpole, and stale politics driven by excessive ideology."
Jeong also criticized Oh's "direct attack on Lee from the ground up," calling it a political offensive. Appearing on YTN, he said, "He says the surge in monthly and jeonse rents is the government's fault, but it is Oh's responsibility after serving as mayor for five years. Attacking President Lee and the former mayor in order to run for mayor again is not befitting a sitting mayor." On the special prosecutor issue, he added, "Why does he keep trying to stand at the center of political strife? He should be fighting the inconvenience faced by citizens, not Lee Jae Myung or the DPK."
uknow@fnnews.com Kim Yun-ho Reporter