Chaos struck the nation on July 10, 2020, when Park Won-soon, then the incumbent mayor of Seoul, was found dead after being reported as missing. Further investigation into the late mayor uncovered that he had been accused by his secretary of sexual harassment. His suicide was translated as an attempt to evade the responsibility that this charge would impose on his position and well-built reputation. The mayor of Busan, Oh Keo-don had also stepped down from his position several days ago due to the same reason—sexually harassing his workers. Both Park and Oh belonged to the ruling party, the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which took a hit. The by-election on April 7 came amid these unsettling political settings.

The overall election on April 7 turned out to be a landslide victory for the People’s Power Party (PPP) as its candidates Oh Se-hoon, a former mayor of Seoul who stepped down after losing in a referendum, and Park Hyung-jun each won in the Seoul and Busan mayoral election. It was not only a mere win in these two key local elections, but a crushing victory; Oh won with 57.5 percent of the votes against DPK’s Park Young-sun’s 39.18 percent in Seoul, and Park won with 63 percent against DPK’s Kim Young-choon with 34.42 percent in Busan. Even though the election did start off with the opposition parties, mainly the PPP, in a more advantageous position, this unpredicted huge win seems to reflect citizens’ disappointment towards the current administration.

Public Swings in Favor of the Opposition

Admittedly, the election took place in an unprecedented setting—vacancies caused by the wrongdoings of past mayors. The landslide victory for the opposition party seems to confirm the fact that DPK made a grave mistake in dealing with Park’s wrongdoings. Several days after his suicide, several legislative members of the party involved themselves in the secondary victimization of Park’s secretary, citing that she was merely a “person who claims to have been harmed,” rather than an actual victim—an incredulous statement considering that fact that Park himself was the first to officially establish that his sexual harassment at the office was a serious and punishable crime during his time as a human rights activist. Once well-known and supported as a party that “democratically” defends the weak and the socially underprivileged, this positive image of DPK has faded as Park’s shadow cast long and dark.

Even at the beginning of the election, the road was bumpy for DPK due to the party’s bylaws set by the current President of South Korea, Moon Jae-in, when he had been the party leader. Article 96 of its bylaws forbade members of the party from running in an election if the position was vacated because DPK’s elected official lost the position due to his or her grave wrongdoings. However, DPK revised this rule with an internal and joined the election. The winner for the primary election for Seoul’s mayor was Park Young-sun, at that time the incumbent Minister of small and medium enterprises (SME) and Startups. As a female candidate and innovative minister, she hoped to represent the party’s urge to redeem for Park and Oh’s wrongdoings.

By-elections have traditionally functioned as a barometer to check where public preference is at. This by-election’s results demonstrate that public opinion has changed from the last general election in 2020 where DPK claimed a massive win with 174 seats. A long-enduring unemployment crisis and repeated policy failures regarding housing prices seem to have fueled the citizens’ anger and fatigue. Recent speculation allegations in the Korea Land and Housing Corporation(LH), a government agency in charge of real estate issues, have only aggravated the worsening public opinion towards the ruling party and the government.

What is also eye-catching is that 72.5 percent of the male voters in their 20s supported Oh in the Seoul mayoral election, which is even more than voters in their 60s did. This result contradicts the general belief that younger generations are more likely to identify themselves as supporters of DPK. It seems the government’s arbitrary labor policies regarding Incheon International Airport’s sudden job transition and tainted sense of justice seen in the struggle of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl gnawed away the support of younger generations who had traditionally been fervent supporters of DPK.

A Prelude to the Upcoming Presidential Election

Many expect the by-election on April 7 to also serve as the barometer to the next presidential election, which is only a year away. While some experts predicted that a third party aside from DPK and PPP will strongly emerge, it seems the theory has faltered for now as Ahn Cheol-soo, the leader of the People Party and the third-party candidate with the biggest support, was defeated in the primary election by Oh Se-hoon. PPP is estimated to have revived from its abysmal defeat in the last general election as its catchphrase of “punishing the current regime” proved to be gaining huge support in Seoul and Busan. The public attention is now on Yoon Seok-youl, a forerunner in major public polls, who is predicted to run on behalf of the opposition side in the presidential race.

For DPK, systemic and thorough reforms are needed in the wake of an alarming defeat in two of the most influential cities. Ever since the election results came out, all leaders and executives of DPK stepped down from their positions, taking full responsibility of the election outcome. Fierce competition for the steering wheel of the party is expected as the leadership position could impact DPK’s candidate selection for the upcoming presidential race.

Upon a solid win, Oh, now the incumbent mayor of Seoul, remarked, “I am now heavily burdened by the responsibility to care for all the citizens in pain due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).” He also stated that he would see to it that the victim of Park’s sexual crime could soundly return to work, reinstating the honor of the victim who has been under constant pressure and pain. For both Oh and Park, a remaining tenure of a mere year is left to determine whether the results of the by-election can cast a shred of silver linings to the citizens amid the darkest hours.