With the June 3 local elections just over 40 days away, the general picture of the head-of-district elections across Seoul's 25 autonomous districts is beginning to take shape. Attention is focused on which candidates voters will choose between the People Power Party, which is leveraging the incumbency advantage of its current district heads, and the Democratic Party of Korea, whose candidates—many of them former and current Seoul Metropolitan Council members well-versed in local affairs—have gone through primaries in large numbers.
According to each party on the 21st, the Seoul chapter of the Democratic Party of Korea has confirmed 22 candidates out of the 25 district heads, excluding Yeongdeungpo-gu, Gangdong-gu, and Songpa-gu.
As of the 21st, the Nomination Management Committee gave single-candidate recommendations to former Seoul Vice Mayor Kang Tae-woong for Yongsan-gu district head, and incumbent district heads Ryu Kyung-ki for Jungnang-gu, Kim Mi-kyung for Eunpyeong-gu, and Jin Kyo-hoon for Gangseo-gu.
In the other 19 districts, candidates were confirmed through internal primaries. For Jongno-gu district head, Yoo Chan-jong defeated preliminary candidate Seo Yong-joo; for Seongdong-gu, Yoo Bo-hwa defeated Lee In-hwa; for Gwangjin-gu, Moon Jong-chul defeated Kim Sun-gap; for Gangbuk-gu, Lee Seung-hoon defeated Choi Sun; and for Gwanak-gu, incumbent district head Park Jun-hee defeated preliminary candidates Kim Hee-chul, Shin Eon-geun, and Yoo Jung-hee to be confirmed as the final candidate.
Also, for Geumcheon-gu district head, Choi Gi-chan defeated preliminary candidate Kim Sung-joon; for Jung-gu, Lee Dong-hyun defeated Choi Kang-sun; for Dobong-gu, Kim Dong-wook defeated Kang Jung-gu; for Yangcheon-gu, Woo Hyung-chan defeated Cho Joo-yeon; for Seocho-gu, Hwang In-sik defeated Kim Jae-won; and for Dongjak-gu, Ryu Sam-young beat preliminary candidates Shin Hee-geun, Oh Young-soo, and Lee Chang-woo to claim the nomination.
In addition, for Mapo-gu district head, Yoo Dong-gyun defeated preliminary candidate Park Gyeong-su; for Dongdaemun-gu, Choi Dong-min defeated Kim In-ho; for Seongbuk-gu, incumbent district head Lee Seung-ro defeated Yoon Jin-ho; for Nowon-gu, Seo Jun-oh defeated Song Jae-hyuk; for Seodaemun-gu, Park Un-gi defeated preliminary candidates Kim Gyu-jin and Kim Heung-guk; for Guro-gu, incumbent district head Jang In-hong defeated Park Dong-woong; and for Gangnam-gu, Kim Hyung-gon defeated Jeon Won-geun to be confirmed as the district head candidate.
The People Power Party's Seoul chapter Nomination Management Committee announced candidates for 18 basic autonomous district heads in Seoul as of the 21st.
Incumbent district heads received single-candidate recommendations: Jung Moon-heon for Jongno-gu, Kim Kyung-ho for Gwangjin-gu, Lee Pil-hyung for Dongdaemun-gu, Lee Sung-heon for Seodaemun-gu, Lee Gi-jae for Yangcheon-gu, Kim Gil-sung for Jung-gu, Oh Eon-seok for Dobong-gu, and Park Kang-soo for Mapo-gu.
For Seongbuk-gu district head, Min Byung-woong, a special professor at Kookmin University's Graduate School of Political Science, was confirmed; for Jungnang-gu, Hwang Jong-seok, chairman of the Korean Policy Development Society; for Seongdong-gu, Ko Jae-hyun, head of external policy at TMap Mobility; for Geumcheon-gu, Lee Hee-kwon, former member of the Geumcheon-gu Future City Policy Advisory Group; and for Guro-gu, attorney Hong Deok-hee was confirmed as the candidate.
Among the contested districts, for Yongsan-gu district head, Kim Kyung-dae was confirmed after an internal primary with former Unification Vice Minister Kim Hyung-seok and former presidential office administrator Cho Sang-hyun. For Gangbuk-gu district head, People Power Party Deputy Spokesperson Jang Ji-ho defeated former Seoul Metropolitan Council member Lee Sung-hee. For Eunpyeong-gu district head, Nam Ki-jung was confirmed as the candidate after an internal primary with attorney Lee Kyung-ho.
For Yeongdeungpo-gu district head, Seoul chapter Vice Chairman Choi Woong-sik was selected. For Seocho-gu district head, a primary between incumbent Seocho-gu head Jeon Seong-soo and Seoul Metropolitan Council Chairwoman Choi Ho-jung had been expected, but Jeon ultimately received a single-candidate recommendation.
