Democratic Party candidate Jung Won-oh and People Power Party candidate Oh Se-hoon addressed the Greater Seoul Express Railway (GTX)-A line incident and the Haengdang District 7 completion delay during a Seoul mayoral candidate televised debate hosted by the National Election Commission on Friday.
Responding to a question about whether the Seoul Metropolitan Government had delayed reporting the missing rebar to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for five months, Oh said, "I never received a report, and I only learned about it later through the news." He turned the criticism around, saying, "Out of nowhere, as the election campaign turned unfavorable, the Democratic Party took the lead in raising the issue, and that has brought us to today."
"In reality, this was not an accident that occurred. The construction company reported the truth while construction was in full swing," Oh said. "I believe the reason Hyundai Engineering & Construction, the contractor, made the report was because I had made closed-circuit television (CCTV) mandatory."
He added, "In any case, reinforcement work is possible. The Korea Rail Network Authority and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport recognized that it is safe through the reinforcement work, and after fully verifying the facts at the end of April, they conducted approximately 90 test runs. The decision was made on the premise that operation is safe."
Jung came under sharp criticism from Oh's side over the Haengdang District 7 completion delay, which stemmed from a daycare center donation issue with the Seongdong District Office.
"I deeply apologize for the delay," Jung said, while adding, "But you need to look more closely before placing the responsibility solely on the district office."
Jung also explained, "The Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seongdong District, and the redevelopment association each have parts they need to resolve. The Seoul Metropolitan Government wanted a daycare center on the donated land. It took about eight months because there was no agreement reached with the association during that process."
He added, "Even though the association came up with a solution together, there were aspects where progress was not smooth. Since a solution has already been prepared, things will move forward once the association quickly breaks ground."
