Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon hinted Thursday that he may put his mayorship on the line in the upcoming plebiscite on a free school meal program.

“It is projected that if I put my mayorship on the line, the voter turnout will go up by 5 percentage points. I am tempted,” Oh said in an interview with local media.

The vote, slated for Aug. 24, is aimed at invalidating a plan to give free lunches to all elementary school students, initiated and approved by the city’s opposition-dominated council last year. 

Oh refused to sign the ordinance and mobilized conservative allies to call the city’s first-ever plebiscite. An association of some 160 conservative civic groups gathered signatures from more than 800,000 citizens, or 5 percent of the city’s 8.36 million voters, demanding the referendum on the free meal plan. Speculations abound that the mayor, who was re-elected last year for a second four-year term, will resign from his post before or after the vote in order to pursue his presidential ambitions.

Oh is considered a potential contender for the presidential ticket of the ruling Grand National Party. The presidential election will take place in December next year.

The mayor said he would decide on his course of action before the plebiscite.

“I should make my stance clear (before the vote), as a growing number of citizens wonder about it,” he said.

However, he denied speculations that he would quit to join the presidential race in earnest, using the plebiscite as a publicity stunt before the move.

“That is what those who benefit from tainting the pure intentions of the plebiscite are saying. I can’t agree to that,” he said.

The upcoming referendum is a choice between “excessive welfare” and “sustainable welfare, Oh said, packaging himself as a crusader against free-for-all welfare pledges by populist politicians.

At the vote, Seoul citizens will be asked to choose between two options: the opposition-pushed program of giving free lunches to all elementary school students from 2011 and all middle school students from 2012, or Oh’s proposed alternative of giving free school lunches only to students in the bottom 50 percent income bracket in stages by 2014.

In order for the vote to be valid, at least one third, or 33.3 percent, of the city’s qualified voters must participate. The outcome of the vote will be determined by majority.

By Lee Sun-young (milaya@heraldcorp.com)