Civic activist-turned-mayor touts ‘change’ to meet expectations of his supporters


Micro-blogging and an unconventional approach have been the epitome of civic activist-turned-Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon’s first two weeks in office.

Having gained fame by successfully nudging businesses and individuals to donate to his charity venture, Park vowed to raise 300 billion won ($265 million) in social investment funds over the next three years to create more jobs and support young venture entrepreneurs.

Half of it will come out of Seoul City’s coffers and the other half from private companies and banks, Park said as part of his campaign pledges. The city government plans to draw fund-raising guidelines and start devising ordinances on how to run the fund within this month.

Park had demonstrated his ability by raising 3.9 billion won in just three days for his election campaign.

On Monday, Park sent a “Seoul City’s statement of opinion” on Korea’s free trade agreement with the U.S. to the ministries of foreign affairs and home affairs, calling for a need to review clauses on the investor-state dispute settlements.

He demanded that the central government consult with Seoul City before the FTA is ratified because the trade pact would cause a reduction in tax revenues and make business difficult for “300,000 small-time retailers” in the capital.

On his third day in office, Park announced that he would halve the tuition of the University of Seoul next year, flustering private universities which already charge twice as much as the city college.

He brought along a legion of fellow civic activists, mostly in their 40s, as his policy mentors, some of whom opposed ex-mayor Oh Se-hoon’s policies. Many of the city government’s latest advisers are new faces to even people in the main opposition Democratic Party.

Based on their advice, Seoul City increased next year’s budget by 5.9 percent to 21.8 trillion won, 26 percent of which will be spent on welfare.

The city government said Thursday that it earmarked 604.5 billion won for welfare, up by 13.3 percent compared to this year.

Opposition-backed Park pulled in the overwhelming majority of voters in their 20s through 40s, riding on the mood set through avid tweeting and publications by liberal opinion leaders such as Seoul National University’s law professor Cho Kuk, former presidential aide Moon Jae-in and novelist Gong Ji-young.

The political greenhorn got a head start in the mayoral race thanks to the endorsement by another non-politician Ahn Cheol-soo, who entered the limelight amid rock-bottom support for the ruling party.

Ahn, a celebrated venture entrepreneur-turned-professor, still remains a potential threat to some politicians ahead of the general and presidential elections next year despite the distance he keeps from the media.

Park even spoke on behalf of his mysterious friend Wednesday, saying he believes Ahn is unlikely to create a new party even if he jumps into politics.

“Considering how I came as a candidate uniting the opposition, a third party would have a low chance of succeeding. I don’t think professor Ahn would take that path,” Park said in a meeting with foreign correspondents in Seoul.

In response to a question on how he expects domestic politics to change, Park said his own election and the so-called “Ahn phenomenon” were “becoming a major turning point in the Korean political history.” Ahn’s hint at running for Seoul mayor briefly put him above veteran politicians in approval ratings until he announced his endorsement of Park.

Accusing President Lee Myung-bak and former mayor Oh of a lack of communication with the public, Park tweets several times each day to reply to his followers on Twitter.

To cut costs, Park plans to anchor his online inauguration ceremony next Wednesday or “show his new office” through an Internet broadcast while interacting with followers through social networking services. His new office is currently under renovation.

The new mayor who calls himself a “social designer” has vowed to roll out a “Wikipedia-style administration based on a level network.”

About concerns over welfare populism in light of the debt crisis in Europe, Park told reporters Wednesday that Seoul’s welfare would not reach the level of Europe even if it keeps increasing its welfare budget for 10 years.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)