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Oh Se-hoon to run as PPP candidate in Seoul mayor bid, vows party reform

Published: 17 Mar. 2026, 18:18

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks during a press conference announcing his candidacy to run in the local elections for the People Power Party at the briefing room of Seoul City Hall in Jung District, central Seoul, on March 17. [NEWS1]

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is re-running as the capital's mayor after over a weeklong power struggle with his own party.

Oh announced that he will register as the People Power Party’s (PPP) candidate for the Seoul mayor bid at around 3 p.m. Tuesday, speaking at a press conference at Seoul City Hall.

“I will register as the PPP's Seoul mayoral candidate with a sense of responsibility to Seoul citizens and in the spirit of putting the party before myself,” Oh said. “A deep sense of responsibility weighed on me, given the support from the public and the conservative bloc.”

“I could not take lightly the expectations and trust placed in me,” Oh said.

Oh had previously postponed his candidacy registration twice — on March 8 and last Thursday — while demanding sweeping personnel reforms within the party leadership, including a firm stance distancing the party from former President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The PPP has since adopted a resolution in the name of all 107 lawmakers opposing Yoon’s political return, though critics say personnel reforms have not gone far enough.

“I made it clear that if the resolution adopted at the general meeting of lawmakers is not to remain a mere declaration, it must be followed by corresponding actions,” Oh said. “However, Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok and the party leadership have failed to show a willingness to change that the public can accept.”

Oh claimed that the leadership was steering the party in the wrong direction, such as by not cutting ties with far-right YouTubers.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon attends a press conference announcing his candidacy to run in the local elections for the People Power Party at the briefing room of Seoul City Hall in Jung District, central Seoul on March 17. [NEWS1]

“The current leadership is no different from pushing countless candidates and party members — who should be fighting on the front lines — into danger,” Oh argued, calling the situation “beyond incompetence and into irresponsibility.”

Oh said he would begin reforms himself in Seoul if the PPP leadership does not change.

“If the Jang leadership abandons its will for reform and refuses to change, I will start change from Seoul,” Oh said. “I will make Seoul the starting point of innovation and rebuild conservatism from there.”

He also pledged to push for an election committee with a level of reform comparable to an emergency leadership committee.

“I am entering the race with the determination to drive party innovation starting from Seoul and to ensure the establishment of a reform-oriented election committee equivalent to an emergency leadership committee,” Oh declared.

He added that he aims to win not as “the president’s choice” but as “the citizens’ choice,” and to prevent a repeat of “Park Won-soon season two.”

Park, a former Seoul mayor who died in July 2020, served three terms in the post, but ended his mayorship in disgrace as he was accused of sexually harassing his secretary.

Oh’s decision to enter the race reflects a lack of viable alternatives within the party, according to political observers.

Potential candidates such as Reps. Na Kyung-won and Ahn Cheol-soo have declined to run, and Rep. Shin Dong-uk has also said he has no intention of entering the race. First-term PPP lawmaker Park Soo-min, however, announced a bid for the Seoul mayor run also on Tuesday.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY HAN YOUNG-HYE [[email protected]]