Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party's Seoul mayoral candidate, said on the 3rd that "the person who needs consulting is not the merchant who has guarded Namdaemun Market for 30 years, but the Democratic Party of Korea's Seoul mayoral candidate, Chong Won-o."
Park Yong-chan, Spokesperson for Oh Se-hoon's campaign committee, said in a commentary that day, "Candidate Chong's remark was not simply an inappropriate comment to a merchant but an outrageous statement that rubbed salt into the wounds of people's livelihoods," and stated accordingly.
Earlier, on the 25th, at Namdaemun Market, when a merchant pleaded, "Business is really bad," Chong said, "With so many tourists here, why is business bad? If you study what tourists might like or change your items after getting expert consulting, you'll hit the jackpot."
On this, Park, the Spokesperson, said, "When business is failing and one's heart is breaking, salt was being sprinkled on a merchant's heartbreaking lament—how must small merchants who encountered this situation have felt?" and added, "Chong should not try to evade the crisis with excuses but should visit the merchant in person and offer a polite apology before it is too late."
He continued, "As we hear Chong's outrageous remark, criticism is emerging that figures in the Democratic Party of Korea may have a 'belittling DNA' toward small merchants," adding, "Recently, Ha Jung-woo, former senior presidential secretary for future planning who is running in the Busan Buk-gap by-election, was caught in a cringeworthy scene wiping his hand after shaking hands with market merchants, shattering the hearts of small self-employed business owners."
Park, the Spokesperson, said, "As Democratic Party figures cause incidents without fail whenever they go to markets, talk is spreading in and around political circles that a 'market entry ban' should be imposed on Democratic Party candidates," and criticized, "Chong, who made a glamorous debut as so-called President Lee Jae-myung's 'Myung-pick,' is revealing an underwhelming true face as time goes by."