2026 Seoul Mayor Race: Who Will Tackle the Housing Crisis – Jeong Won-oh vs. Oh Se-hoon?

Kwon Jun-young | 2026.05.12

Translation result.

[Anchor] Democratic Party candidate Jeong Won-oh and People Power Party candidate Oh Se-hoon, who are competing for the Seoul mayor’s office, have been trading barbs over housing policy day after day. The two also clashed over whether to hold a one-on-one debate. This is Kwak Jun-young reporting. [Reporter] Democratic Party mayoral hopeful Jeong Won-oh, who accepted his party’s nomination from party leader Jeong Cheong-rae and even donned blue sneakers in a campaign stunt, pledged to win the local election and accused People Power candidate Oh Se-hoon of creating housing insecurity through incompetence. 「Jeong Won-oh / Democratic Party Seoul mayoral candidate」 What have you been doing for five years — just blaming others? If you had kept the promises you made in the last election, we wouldn't be facing these housing problems. Jeong singled out last year’s lifting and subsequent reimposition of the land transaction permit system as a major policy failure and renewed calls to hold Oh accountable. 「Jeong Won-oh / Democratic Party Seoul mayoral candidate」 You lifted the land transaction permit almost on impulse. Then, just over a month later, you expanded it again. That was a textbook mistake based on hunches, not data. Oh acknowledged that reversing the land transaction permit policy was his only real housing mistake and sought to downplay it. He pushed back, however, calling it a political attack to portray a one- or two-month hiccup as the root cause of broader housing-policy failures. 「Oh Se-hoon / People Power Party Seoul mayoral candidate」 Under this administration, the price graph started rising again. So this is a Democratic Party frame. They're still hanging their case on that one- or two-month hiccup... He shifted blame to the Democratic Party as well, arguing that the party's hostility toward reconstruction and redevelopment is the fundamental cause of today’s housing supply problems, and he continued to press Jeong to agree to a one-on-one debate. 「Oh Se-hoon / People Power Party Seoul mayoral candidate」 You keep framing this as a fight and then dodge it by saying, 'I won't fight.' From the perspective of Seoul residents, that's really disappointing... Jeong responded by telling Oh to reflect on what he himself said only a month ago when candidates such as Yoon Hee-sook called for debates. During the Seoul mayoral primary, Oh had already rejected proposals for additional debates, saying, for example, "Holding lots of debates won't make me more competitive." This is Kwak Jun-young of Yonhap News TV. [Video reporters: Kim Seong-su, Park Tae-beom, Kim Sang-hoon, Hong Su-ho] [Video editor: Yoon Hyun-jung] [Footage provided by MBN] [News review] #LocalElections #SeoulMayor #JeongWonoh #OhSehoon Yonhap News TV tips and inquiries: KakaoTalk/LINE jebo23 Kwak Jun-young (kwak_ka@yna.co.kr)
Kwon Jun-young

Kwon Jun-young

2026 Seoul Mayor Race: Who Will Tackle the Housing Crisis – Jeong Won-oh vs. Oh Se-hoon?