[Breaking] Former oceans minister likely to become Busan mayor: exit poll

Chun Jae-soo, former oceans minister and three-term lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, is projected to win the Busan mayoral race against Park Heong-joon, right-wing incumbent, according to an exit poll Wednesday.

Chun, 55, was ahead of Park in the election with 50.2 percent of votes, up by 1.9 percentage points, according to an exit poll conducted at select polling stations nationwide Wednesday.

The exit poll was run by the Korea Election Pool, a body comprising representatives of the Korean Broadcasters Association and TV networks of KBS, MBC and SBS.

Chun was the first Oceans Minister of the Lee Jae Myung administration. During his tenure, the Oceans Ministry relocated its headquarters from the administrative city of Sejong to Busan in December.

If Chun wins, Busan will get its first left-of-center mayor since the Democratic Party’s Oh Keo-don resigned from the post in 2020 amid allegations of sexual assaults against female subordinates. Oh was later convicted of sexual harassment in 2021 and spent three years behind bars until 2024.

consnow@heraldcorp.com