Jung Won-oh, the Democratic Party of Korea's candidate for Seoul mayor, reviewed grievances from Seoul residents on Wednesday based on "Voice of Seoul," a citizen participation data platform. Seoul residents cited rising housing costs, public safety, transportation, and consumer prices as the key issues.
Jung attended the "Voice of Seoul Citizen Briefing" held at his election committee camp in Taepyeong Building in Seoul, where he received the results of citizen feedback and outlined policy directions. About 50 citizens, election committee officials, and researchers attended the event.
Voice of Seoul is a platform that collects and analyzes data on grievances and policy proposals submitted online by citizens. According to Jung's camp, 4,818 opinions were gathered over 51 days through the 21st. Cumulative website visitors numbered about 67,000, and survey participants exceeded 5,000. During the same period, more than 8,000 complaints were also received via text message.
The biggest grievance cited by citizens was rising housing costs, followed by safety and public security, commuting, and prices and living costs. The four categories accounted for about 80% of all grievances.
On housing, citizens pointed to the burden of rising home prices and monthly rents, jeonse (a Korean lease system requiring a large lump-sum deposit instead of monthly rent) fraud, and housing insecurity among young people, newlyweds, and single-person households. In the safety and public security area, concerns centered on women and young people, including everyday anxiety about crime and inadequate responses to stalking and dating violence.
In the transportation sector, subway congestion during commuting hours, long travel times, and disparities in transit infrastructure between regions emerged as major complaints. Some citizens said, "Please try riding the subway during rush hour just once" and "I see a woman fainting on the subway about once a month."
In the area of prices and living costs, the perceived burden was high due to rising food, housing, and education costs, with both young people and the self-employed reporting pressure, the analysis showed.
After listening to the citizens' views, Jung said, "Administration must do what citizens want, not what the mayor wants," adding, "I will eliminate showcase administration and conduct administration centered on what citizens actually feel." He also stressed, "I will reflect citizens' opinions in the policy-making process and take responsibility for decided policies to the end."
