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Five candidates officially kicked off their campaign to become Seoul’s education chief on Tuesday in a race shaping up to be yet another conservative vs. liberal battle.
The election to pick the superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will be held on Dec. 19, simultaneously with the presidential vote, to fill the post vacated by liberal education reformer Kwak No-hyun.
Kwak, a former law professor, was jailed in September, convicted of a charge that he bought a fellow candidate out of the race to win the superintendent election in 2010.
The five contenders in the by-election are Moon Yong-lin, former education minister; Lee Soo-ho; former chief of the Korea Teachers and Education Workers’ Union; Lee Sang-myun, a law professor at Seoul National University; Nam Seung-hee, a former official of the Seoul Education Office and Choi Myung-bok, a former high school teacher and official at Seoul Education office.
Observers say the race will be a close battle between Moon and Lee Soo-ho, with the former minister holding a slight lead.
Moon, 64, has served as a special adviser to Park Geun-hye, a leading presidential candidate from the conservative ruling Saenuri Party.
Lee, 62, is the sole contender representing the liberal opposition forces.
The key will be how Moon and the other three right-leaning candidates divide conservative and moderate voters, the observers say.
In 2010, Kwak, standing as the unified candidate representing the progressive groups, won the superintendent election by a slight margin of 1.1 percent, against six conservative contenders.
On Tuesday, Moon began his campaign with a visit to the National Cemetery in southern Seoul where he pledged to improve the quality of education at the city’s over 2,200 schools. He then visited an elementary school in central Seoul and attended a campaign launching ceremony.
Lee, meanwhile, kicked off his campaign by visiting a food distribution center in southern Seoul to check the city’s school meal service.
He promised to improve school meal offerings, including the expansion of free school meals for students from lower-income families.
By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)
The election to pick the superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will be held on Dec. 19, simultaneously with the presidential vote, to fill the post vacated by liberal education reformer Kwak No-hyun.
Kwak, a former law professor, was jailed in September, convicted of a charge that he bought a fellow candidate out of the race to win the superintendent election in 2010.
The five contenders in the by-election are Moon Yong-lin, former education minister; Lee Soo-ho; former chief of the Korea Teachers and Education Workers’ Union; Lee Sang-myun, a law professor at Seoul National University; Nam Seung-hee, a former official of the Seoul Education Office and Choi Myung-bok, a former high school teacher and official at Seoul Education office.
Observers say the race will be a close battle between Moon and Lee Soo-ho, with the former minister holding a slight lead.
Moon, 64, has served as a special adviser to Park Geun-hye, a leading presidential candidate from the conservative ruling Saenuri Party.
Lee, 62, is the sole contender representing the liberal opposition forces.
The key will be how Moon and the other three right-leaning candidates divide conservative and moderate voters, the observers say.
In 2010, Kwak, standing as the unified candidate representing the progressive groups, won the superintendent election by a slight margin of 1.1 percent, against six conservative contenders.
On Tuesday, Moon began his campaign with a visit to the National Cemetery in southern Seoul where he pledged to improve the quality of education at the city’s over 2,200 schools. He then visited an elementary school in central Seoul and attended a campaign launching ceremony.
Lee, meanwhile, kicked off his campaign by visiting a food distribution center in southern Seoul to check the city’s school meal service.
He promised to improve school meal offerings, including the expansion of free school meals for students from lower-income families.
By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)
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Articles by Korea Herald
