Chong Won-o, the Democratic Party of Korea's candidate for Seoul mayor, on the 26th visited the southwestern area of Seoul, including Gwanak and Guro, to listen to the difficulties faced by young people and venture businesspeople. After an accident occurred at the Seosomun demolition site, all schedules were canceled and he headed to the scene of the accident.
At 11 a.m. that day, at the candidate's campaign office in Jung District, Seoul, Chong attended the "Seoul's Voice citizen briefing" and received a report analyzing civil complaints data to check on Seoul.
"Seoul's Voice" is a citizen-led platform created to analyze, in data form, the inconveniences and difficulties citizens experience and to propose solutions. Anyone can file a civil complaint even without living in Seoul. The platform was devised based on text message complaint intake that Chong had operated since serving as Seongdong District chief.
The problems citizens most strongly raised were housing prices and monthly rent (29.0%), safety and public order (22.7%), commuting and transportation (14.3%), and prices and living costs (13.7%), in that order. The so-called "four major daily-life anxieties" that weigh on citizens' lives accounted for about 80% of all responses.
At the briefing, Chong said, "Within the 4,818 citizen voices were sighs and anxiety, tears and anger," and noted, "It is clearly a dereliction of duty that the administration has turned a blind eye to this until now."
Chong emphasized, "Based on this analysis, we will break away from showcase administration and build a Seoul centered on 'everyday administration' that resolves citizens' day-to-day difficulties and brings real changes to their lives."
In the afternoon, he met four people in the "single-person youth household" category living in Gwanak District for a roundtable. At the meeting, Chong again pledged to establish a "Seoul comprehensive single-person household support center" to integrate and manage the support systems currently dispersed across the 25 autonomous districts.
At a campaign stop in Gwanak District, he said, "We will create the three major youth startup clusters in Gwanak and Nakseongdae to make Gwanak a startup city."
Chong then visited Mario Tower in Guro District, Seoul, and held an "on-site roundtable" with the Council of Innovative Venture Organizations. Attendees included Song Byung-joon, chair of the Korea Venture Business Association, Yoo Dong-jun, executive vice chair of the Korea Business Angels Association, Kim Hak-kyun, head of the Korea Venture Capital Association, Lee Yong-gyun, CEO of Rsquare, Lee Ju-an, chair of Megazone Cloud, and Kim Ki-hyuk, CEO of SWM.
Chong said, "Of course the Seoul city government should work together on accelerator funds, investment platforms, and support to invigorate venture corporations," adding, "The shift to productive finance is being pushed strongly under the Lee Jae-myung administration."
At around 3:20 p.m., Chong's camp announced that all campaign activities would be temporarily suspended following an accident at the Seosomun overpass demolition site, and moved to the scene of the accident.