Photologue @theuostimes7
Coming on June 1st is the 8th Nationwide Simultaneous Local Elections in South Korea. It is an event to elect every governor and mayor of each local governments of Korea. Along with the Presidential Elections and National Assembly Elections, the Simultaneous Local Elections is regarded as the most major voting event in Korean democratic system.
The city of Seoul is no exception in selecting its leader for the future four years. The University of Seoul (UOS) Being the university funded by Seoul Metropolitan Government, UOS Student Council “Tomorrow” (Naeil, in Korean) hosted a policy forum with the candidates running for Seoul Metropolitan City Mayor. The forum, titled “Sidaedamhwa” (UOS Conversation, in English) had its first event on May 4th with Song Young-gil from Democratic Party of Korea. The second event was held on May 10th with candidate Kwon Soo-joung from Justice Party.
Both events started with the keynote speech by the invited candidates, followed by the students’ policy proposal to the future mayor of Seoul. The 11 proposed policies included enforced internship program in Seoul Metropolitan Government for UOS students, increase in number of UOS faculties, and culture vouchers provided for the younger people living in Seoul, all of which deeply concerned with UOS students and the citizens of Seoul. Some of the proposals were in regard with environment, such as enforcement in feral cat treatments and zero-waste cafés. After the proposals, the participants had chances to freely ask the candidates about their ideas and political views.
The previously planned third event with current mayor of Seoul Oh Se-hoon, who is also running for the next mayor, was cancelled due to the candidates’ election campaign schedule. The final Sidaedamhwa session is to be held with all of candidates running for the Mayor of Dongdaemun-gu invited. The event is scheduled to start on 10am May 10th, at Mirae Hall B203.