The incumbent mayor of Seoul, Oh Se-hoon, won re-election in the mayoral race on June 3. For Oh, though, it was an unexpected victory. All the polls and exit polls signaled his defeat. Up until 7 a.m. on June 4, 13 hours after voting closed, he trailed on the heels of his rival from the Democratic Party (DP). It was only around 9 a.m. that it was announced Oh won the race by 1 percent, some 60,000 more votes than his DP rival, securing another term as mayor of South Korea’s capital. It will be his fifth term, albeit nonconsecutively. 

A sleek and amiable environmental lawyer in the 1990s, Oh entered politics in 2000 as a legislator from today’s People Power Party (PPP), South Korea’s opposing conservative party. Rather a refreshing figure with a penchant for the reform of domestic politics, he became mayor of Seoul in 2006. Then 45, he was the youngest person ever to hold that post. Oh wanted to make Seoul more aesthetically presentable, refashioning the city’s architecture and infrastructure. In 2010, UNESCO designated Seoul as a Creative City of Design. 

His second term was more tumultuous. In December 2010, the Seoul Council passed an ordinance to provide free lunch to all elementary school kids. Oh denounced the plan as universal welfare. He called for a referendum. He raised the stakes by swearing to resign as mayor should the referendum go against him. 

For most Seoulites, perhaps the most enduring image of him came from the August 2011 press conference ahead of the referendum. As cameras flashed, he choked up while imploring people to vote against free school lunches. Topping it all, he kowtowed on the dais.

Irrespective of where voters stood on welfare policy, it was quite bizarre to see a mayor staking his career and crying in front of the nation just to deny free meals to school kids. He was pelted from all sides, even his own party. All the theatrics and jeopardizing his mayoralty over free school meals were deemed unnecessary and out of proportion. 

The referendum failed, falling short of the target voter turnout. At least he was true to his word; Oh resigned.

For better or for worse, the incident proved he was capable of acting independently and defying party pressure. That trend harked back to 2004 when he refused to run for the general elections due to the conservative party’s failure to implement the internal overhaul Oh called for. Still, stepping down as Seoul’s mayor over such a parochial and innocuous matter was undoubtedly a political faux pas. 

From 2012 to 2016, he steered clear of politics. During this political hiatus, he lectured on public policy and spent time in Peru and Rwanda as an adviser on urban administration and environmental policy. His return to politics was arduous. He failed to win a parliamentary seat in both the 2016 and 2020 general elections. He also lost the PPP national convention in 2019 for the party leadership.

Oh made a successful comeback as mayor of Seoul following the 2021 by-election. His predecessor, Park Won-soon, had committed suicide the previous year following allegations of sexual harassment by his secretary. The by-election took place at the height of COVID-19, and scandal after scandal had riddled the ruling DP, collectively boosting Oh’s bid for another term. In 2022, at the end of Park’s original term, Oh was re-elected as Seoul’s mayor for the fourth time. 

Along with some run-of-the-mill transportation and social care policies, tax-guzzling environmental projects marked the past few years of Oh’s tenure. Still, most notable was his absence during the Itaewon tragedy in October 2022 – he was abroad in Europe on a business trip. At the time, he was widely censured for having left Seoul when the largest unorganized annual event was set to take place.

His re-election for the fifth time reflected not so much his personal competency and charisma as the success of Oh’s rhetoric. On his barnstorming, he continued to exhort the voters to “please keep Seoul as the last bastion.” The Lee Jae-myung administration represents the DP; the party also holds a massive majority in the National Assembly. As the ruling party was set to sweep up other local governments – except for the historically conservative southeast – Oh dug in his heels as the last conservative standing against what he claimed was the unbridled exercise of power by the executive and legislative branches.

The other prong of his tactic was to openly tussle with the PPP leadership before the June local elections. At first, he threatened not to run on the PPP ticket. Oh labeled himself as a rational conservative and staked out Seoul as his turf from which to rebuild South Korea’s conservatism. For that, he needed to distance himself from the PPP. 

The PPP “hasn’t shown convincing change and resolution,” Oh said. He requested the party sever ties with former President Yoon Suk-yeol and his failed self-coup. In response, the party vilified him, asking, “What has he done during his four terms?” (It’s an irony that more than a grain of truth comes out of internecine feuds.)

Without any viable candidate to replace Oh, however, the PPP backed down and issued a lukewarm apology to the public for Yoon’s declaration of martial law. Oh ran on the PPP ticket and won. 

The voting patterns prove that Oh successfully peddled his image as a sensible, reasonable conservative. For district leadership, the DP won 17 out of the 25 districts comprising Seoul. In some of the DP-won districts, most constituents picked DP candidates to lead their districts but Oh for mayor. They are averse to the PPP but Oh is acceptable.

Besides Oh’s shrewd rhetoric, the other reason for his successful mayoral bid is Seoulites’ desire for continuity. He has been a household name for more than two decades. He has become that safe, if unctuous, figure that those not privy to politics pick on the ballot just for the sake of voting. People may hate the PPP, but Oh is more palatable – even to liberals.

Also, amid record-high consumer prices voters are wary of new changes bleeding their wallets for now. For instance, the government’s recent constriction on the proportion of loans property buyers can take out (to curb frantic real estate investment that has been driving up housing prices) has forced non-homeowners to rely on leases with increased rent or pay jacked-up premiums (an upfront lump-sum payment for granting of lease where the tenant is paying nominal or no rent). More than half of Seoul residents are tenants, and they are upset. Oh has been making it clear he would confront the government on this. 

Meanwhile, Oh is a stickler for the age-old practice of fielding more private-sector housing projects with less regulation, which is why property owners, developers and investors in Seoul mostly love him.

Tourism is another sector that Seoulites would rather see Oh continuing to supervise. Regardless of his personal contributions, or lack thereof, it was during his latest tenure that a floodgate of tourism opened to Seoul. From 2023 to 2025, the annual number of foreigners visiting Seoul had jumped from 8.8 million to almost 15 million. The National Museum of Korea ranked third in the world in terms of the number of annual visitors. In this context, Oh’s campaign promise to attract 30 million foreigners to Seoul per year by conceiving more trekking tours, night-time activities, festivals, and quaint alleys sounded credible. 

But this continuity also means that Oh’s most contentious policies will press on. The most controversial one is Oh’s Hangang Bus, a network of ferry services for commuters and tourists to cross the Han River at multiple points. The project kicked off in September 2025 but halted after a month following numerous incidents and accidents. The ferries ran aground in shallow waters. Technical snags hindered the ferries’ smooth operation. The ferries collided with floating objects and underwater infrastructure. Despite public opprobrium and concern, Oh is determined to plow ahead with the project. 

He also intends to ram through his redevelopment project to build a skyscraper in front of Jongmyo Shrine, a UNESCO World Heritage landmark. UNESCO has already sent a request for a World Heritage Impact Assessment, which Oh rejected because it would mean pausing the project for up to a few years or even scrapping it. Government agencies and Seoul have been locked in administrative and legal battles over the redevelopment project’s potential adverse impact on the shrine’s cultural landscape and comprehensive value.

Oh may gloat over his historic fifth term as Seoul’s mayor, but there are substantial limitations. He is currently under trial for allegedly paying illicit political funds to a pollster who rigged polls in Oh’s favor so that he could win the PPP nomination to run for the 2021 Seoul by-election. There is direct evidence of money transfer from Oh’s political sponsor to the pollster and a witness confirming the purpose for which the money was wired. Should Oh be found guilty and receive a sentence exceeding a fine of one million won (about $640), he loses his job. 

In addition to this legal risk, the composition of Seoul Council also means that Oh’s exercise of administrative powers will be significantly hindered. The DP won 80 out of 118 seats. This two-thirds majority can overrule the mayor’s veto of budgetary and regulatory decisions. 

Oh himself may represent continuity for Seoul, but his fifth term may not.