Chong Won-o, the Democratic Party of Korea's candidate for Seoul mayor, pushed back strongly against allegations surrounding the Seongdong Future Jobs project that Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party's Seoul mayoral candidate, has been raising daily.
On the 26th, after wrapping up a morning campaign stop in front of Yeouido Station in Yeongdeungpo District, Seoul, Chong told reporters that the related allegations were "an insult to those who invested in a good cause without receiving any dividends for the first six years."
Seongdong Future Jobs is a company Chong founded when serving as Seongdong District chief. The aim was to run a project that provides jobs to seniors and others. Unlike other districts, it allowed private participation for 20% of the equity. Six people joined as shareholders, including a person surnamed Gu, a former Democratic Party aide, and a person surnamed Lee, known as a high-value donor to Chong. Oh Se-hoon's camp criticized it as giving investment opportunities to the district chief's close associates, while Chong's camp countered that it is a negative attack on a project with a public-interest purpose.
Chong said, "In fact, it was a People Power Party district council member who argued that the return rate was low." Chong said, "That People Power Party district council member argued, 'Since it's low, raise the dividends more,' so the following year dividends were increased by 5%." He added, "So over eight years to date, 15% in dividends has been paid out, which, on an annual basis, is less than 2%."
Chong said, "I'm actually grateful that raising the issue has given us an opportunity to publicize such a good project."
He added, "What matters is whether there was 'carving up'," saying, "Shouldn't (Oh) obviously present how much those people took after investing?"
Chong said, "For six years, they invested without taking a single penny of performance and did not get any of their investment back," adding, "For the first time in six years, profit-sharing was carried out and 10% was distributed." He added, "All the results go back to the public interest."
He also pointed out, "The negative attacks (raised by Oh) are nothing new."
As for the opposition criticizing the Starbucks boycott as a "people's tribunal for local elections," he said it "began with citizens' voluntary protests and demands for correction," adding, "I don't think it's desirable for politics to intervene and turn it into a partisan fight as the corporation takes steps to normalize operations."