Chung Won-oh, the Democratic Party's candidate for Seoul mayor, and Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party's candidate, have presented budget requirements of 7.343 trillion won and 20.5131 trillion won, respectively, to fulfill their campaign pledges. Compared with the 70 trillion won the Seoul Metropolitan Government spent on pledge implementation over the past four years, the two figures represent roughly 10% and 30% of that amount. Experts at the Korea Manifesto Center and other organizations have raised concerns about the pledge-formulation process, arguing that the candidates have deceived citizens by scaling back projected budget requirements even though the number of pledges has not decreased compared with the previous administration.
According to responses to pledge inquiries that the Korea Manifesto Center received from each candidate on Monday, Chung said his 23 pledges would require 7,343,099 million won. Major pledges include rapid-track development and value-housing supply (8.16 billion won), the Seoul spatial transformation initiative (budget restructuring), the 30-minute commuter city (4.37 trillion won), prevention-centered disaster management (1.5735 trillion won), and the issuance of local-love gift certificates (250 billion won).
Oh disclosed a plan to spend 20,513,105 million won on 84 pledges. His pledge count is about 3.6 times greater than Chung's, and his budget is roughly 2.8 times larger. Oh's pledges include redevelopment projects covering 310,000 households (2 billion won), the supply of 130,000 public rental and sale housing units (utilizing the Seoul Housing Promotion Fund), and the connection of Seoul's transportation arteries (4.8 trillion won). Both candidates have presented housing and transportation policies as their key pledges.
Experts, however, said these budgets have been underestimated, meaning the candidates announced large-scale pledges without accurately calculating the required spending. According to the Korea Manifesto Center, the Seoul Metropolitan Government spent 70.575 trillion won on pledge implementation during the eighth popularly elected mayoralty. Although the current pledges from Chung and Oh are not significantly smaller than those of the eighth-term administration, their budget estimates are markedly lower. With excess tax revenue having boosted the city's available funds, it would not be easy to execute a smaller budget. Both candidates have also announced large-scale social overhead capital (SOC) pledges, including a new Dongbu Line and a "10-minute subway from my home" project, making it impossible to substantially reduce the budget compared with the previous administration. Lee Kwang-jae, secretary-general of the Korea Manifesto Center, said, "Both candidates view policy pledges not as projects that require spending but as gift bags to hand to voters, and they are concealing the financial burden these projects entail." He added, "The large-scale SOC projects alone that the candidates intend to carry out will exceed the budgets they have presented. There are no benefits without burden."
Beyond underestimating budgets, the two candidates also gave abstract answers regarding their funding strategies. Chung said he would secure 800 billion won by reducing expenditure budgets through adjustments to project priorities and 1 trillion won through excess tax revenue generated by Seoul's development. Oh said he would raise 5.1 trillion won through the private sector and secure additional Seoul city budget through public contributions and the sale of public land. Lee criticized this approach, saying, "It is wrong to present vague expressions such as excess tax revenue from Seoul's development, or the sale of public land that has repeatedly failed to attract bids due to rising land prices, as funding plans."
