Oh Se-hoon's People Power Party Seoul mayoral campaign raised allegations that Chong Won-o's Democratic Party of Korea side copied its pledges in connection with the "tax money well-spent policies (Taeajeong)" pledge.

Democratic Party of Korea mayoral candidate Chong Won-o attends the Seoul nomination convention at the KBIZ Hall of the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on the 11th and poses for a commemorative photo./Courtesy of Yonhap News

Spokesperson Park Yong-chan of Oh Se-hoon's election committee issued a commentary on the 13th, saying, "Of the 29 'Taeajeong' pledges by candidate Chong, 24 were analyzed to have copied existing policies or Oh Se-hoon's pledges," adding, "The copying of pledges by Chong's side is at a serious level."

He went on, "The election committee, for accurate and objective verification, analyzed through artificial intelligence (AI) 'Claude' and found the duplication rate of the Taeajeong pledges was a whopping 82.8%," adding, "The most representative case of pledge duplication is candidate Chong Won-o's 'rapid response team for household civil complaints for home care services' pledge, with a 100% match rate."

Park said, "At this point, it is no exaggeration to say it rises to the level of forgery beyond copying pledges," adding, "Taking the official name of a Seoul City project as one's own pledge title is an immoral act devoid of the slightest sense of shame."

He added, "Claude also verified candidate Chong's pledges and assessed that 'at this point it amounts to copyright infringement,'" and said, "Just as thesis plagiarism is a stern standard by which public officials are judged, pledge plagiarism should likewise become an important criterion for assessing a public official's policy competence and integrity."

※ This article has been translated by AI. Share your feedback here.