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The People Power Party’s mayoral candidate for Sokcho, Lee Byung-seon, formally opened his campaign office at Cheongdaero 347 on April 25, drawing a large and enthusiastic crowd of supporters.
People Power MP Lee Yang-soo (representing Sokcho–Inje–Goseong–Yangyang), Gangwon Provincial Council Chairman Kim Si-seong, civic leaders, and roughly 160 local experts across 30 teams attended the opening and pledged to secure victory in the June 3 local elections.
At the event, Lee said he plans to transform Sokcho into a compact city where residents can travel across the municipality—from Seoraksan to the central market, the cruise terminal and Yeongnang Lake—in under nine minutes. He argued that the city has already completed most of its physical infrastructure, including roads and the cruise terminal, and promised that, if elected, he will complete the compact-city vision in the next municipal term.
Lee outlined projects finished during his recent administration, saying, “We completed a public postpartum care center, a veterans’ hall, a welfare center for people with disabilities, a children’s water play park, and Gangwon’s first children’s English library. Thanks to the efforts of our elected officials and residents, we secured more than 3 trillion KRW (about $2.25 billion), and the Chuncheon–Sokcho east–west high-speed rail is scheduled to open in two years.”
Lee noted that Yeongnang Lake was designated a recreational area in 1976 and has seen little development for 50 years. He said a private company committed 1 trillion KRW (about $750 million) last year to a development plan for the site.
He posed the question, “What is the 70-year-long aspiration for the city?” and answered that it is designation as a border-adjacent area. Lee described that designation as “a stroke of genius” and said it would help make Sokcho’s future happier, healthier and more sustainable.
Lee also criticized the Democratic Party’s Sokcho mayoral candidate, former Mayor Kim Cheol-soo, over projects initiated during Kim’s term. He alleged that the Ferris wheel on Sokcho Beach (the “Sokcho Eye”) and the Yeongnang Lake pontoon bridge, advanced under Kim’s administration, are now the subject of ongoing litigation and therefore pose legal risks for that candidate.
He also challenged Kim’s claim that he completed Sokcho’s water self-sufficiency during his term. Lee said the plan for the Ssangcheon No. 2 underground dam preceded Kim’s administration and had been developed across multiple mayoral terms, including plans from Lee’s earlier tenure. Although Lee said he lost an election after his sixth term and could not carry the project forward into the seventh, he emphasized that the project’s origins go back well before Kim.
Lee highlighted the Cheoksan water conveyance pipeline project—pursued during his most recent term—as the critical initiative that allowed the city to distribute water evenly during droughts. The pipeline moves water from Seorak to the Haksapyeong treatment plant. Without that conduit, officials could not divert surplus water from the Seorak area to Haksapyeong during dry periods, and parts of the Haksapyeong supply network would have experienced shortages.
Lee concluded by urging voters to treat the local election as a choice of competent local leaders. “I am campaigning as if we are one vote short,” he said, asking residents to support clean governance and uninterrupted progress for Sokcho’s future. He appealed for active backing so that the People Power candidate can win and help kick-start South Korea’s development from Sokcho.
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