59th Seoul Mayor to Skip 2012 Presidential Poll
By Oh Young-jin, Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporters
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon will not run in the presidential election in 2012.
"If I were reelected as mayor next year, I intend to fulfill my term," the 48-year-old leader of Korea's capital told The Korea Times during an exclusive interview Friday.
"It would be a promise I make with Seoul citizens and I will keep it," said the mayor, who was a lawyer and served a single term as lawmaker of the then main opposition Grand National Party.
Oh is running for re-election in next June's local elections and is regarded as a shoo-in. It is widely speculated that Oh is also a potential candidate for the presidency, with his clean record and telegenic image being among his strong points.
Although he didn't say whether he was interested in running for the nation's highest office, he indirectly indicated that the Seoul mayorship won't be the last public office he holds, saying, "I am only 48. Even after the next president leaves office, I won't be 60. What is the hurry?"
The next presidential election is scheduled for December 2012 if there are no changes in the current Constitution, which sets a single-term and five-year of presidency.
Some politicians are talking of adopting the U.S. system of electing president and vice president on the same ticket with their term of office extended up to eight years through re-election.
"I am appreciating how important my job as Seoul mayor is," he said, adding that he wants to finish what he started.
Oh is credited with the Seoul Renaissance Project that he hopes, once completed, will bring vitality to the capital that has reached a point of saturation in terms of development. For instance, the Han River will be turned into one big eco-friendly and human-centric park, while other areas will jump on an evolution to state-of-the-art industries and cultural hubs.
The Shift Housing Project is Oh's top priority, aimed at providing housing for all and easing real estate bubble. Of course, some detractors claim that Oh is following in President Lee Myung-bak's footsteps on his way to the presidency.
Lee, the former CEO of a big construction firm, owed his successful bid to his restoration of Chonggye Stream running across downtown Seoul, among other achievements.
But Oh is widely viewed to belong to the generation of Korean baby boomers who are more assertive, less entangled with the burden of history from Japan's colonial rule and the Korean War and more affluent than the previous generation.
Asked how he would differentiate himself from his predecessor, President Lee, Oh said, "I think that what I am trying to do with our city can be made possible on the foundation of what President Lee and people belonging to his generation have done."
Although Lee and Oh are from different generations, Oh, as Lee has learned, is learning fast about what the top administrator's job is all about.
"With a dose of sarcasm, some people call me 'self-promoted environmental' mayor," he said. "But my job requires me not to be 100 percent environmentalist or 100 percent development advocate." He said that it is important to strike a golden median with the top priority being how best to serve Seoul citizens."
He took an example of a development plan around the Joseon-era royal shrine of Jongmyo in downtown Seoul, the UNESCO-designated World Heritage site.
"Some activists criticize the plan for building an over-30-story high building, but the building is designed not to disrupt a view of the historic relic. Besides, it is only part of a bigger project to highlight Jongmyo in a harmony of preservation and development."
As expected of a latter-day baby boomer, he is very proud of Seoul as it is and thinks that pride should be a basis of any future plans.
"I tell city employees that they should stop taking other global cities as a model for Seoul to strive to be," Oh said. "Because Seoul exceeds those cities in various aspects and needs to develop its own model.
"That doesn't mean settling for the status quo," he said. "We should still learn from what they are best at but that learning should not come at the expense of losing our best."
Globalization is also the mayor's priority.
"The best way is sending city officials abroad to learn, while hosting international events to show the world what our city has."
He also stresses the importance of English as a tool for communicating with the rest of the world. "Over the weekend, I have had a crash course on English, reading scraps of articles from English newspapers. I also occasionally checks in on English classes for city employees."
About half a dozen city officials were present during the 30-minute interview at Mayor Oh's office but the atmosphere was lively, with the officials sharing laughter with the mayor when he occasionally threw in witty remarks or jokes.