Seongdong v. Seongdong

The race for Seoul mayor got a bit tighter lately: longtime Seongdong-gu mayor JUNG Won-oh seemed to be cruising towards an easy victory, but longtime incumbent OH Se-hoon is now within striking distance.

If JUNG's DPK and OH's PPP have become caricature parties in a deeply divided nation, the two leading candidates are not that radically opposed, and not just because OH was born in Seongdong-gu*. Both have had their share of controversies during their long tenures**, both are more pragmatists than populists, both have implemented policies that could have come from across the aisle, both have increased their territory's global attractiveness (Seoul back in the game and for the first time among the World's top 10 startup hubs, Seongsu-dong a magnet for influencers), and both pledge to build more dwellings to meet the demand from low income citizens.

Nevermind those decreasing populations in Seoul and Korea, and forget about making existing homes more affordable... build and they will come. Yes, their programs differ significantly (big, tall, top-down projects for OH, 'chak chak', district-level affairs for JUNG), but you can expect more concrete after this epic, vegetal-free 'Garden of Gratitude' erected on Gwanghwamun Square to honor Korean war veterans. 

Seoul's new Garden of Gratitude

 

One garden of gratitude for Seoul? One fortress of solitude for the winner? One hundred years of solitude for the loser?  

JUNG Won-oh - OH Se-hoon

Whoever wins, we'll keep an eye on him, for better or for worse.

Seongsu me.

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*  the only Seoul mayor to be born in the capital city BTW. JUNG was born in Jeollanam-do (Yeosu)

** or even before when it comes to JUNG, still haunted by a 1995 incident involving the assault of police force