Is Flexible Work the Key to Solving Seoul’s Traffic Congestion? A Deep Dive into Jeong Won-oh’s Proposal
Daniel Kim Views
Jung Won-o Proposes Expanding Flexible and Remote Work to Ease Traffic Congestion
Ham In-kyung: If made a permanent policy, how would corporate productivity be guaranteed?
Focusing on ‘managing’ traffic volume risks appearing like an effort to control citizens’ movements
The People Power Party sharply criticized Democratic Party mayoral candidate Jung Won-o’s traffic proposal, accusing him of seeking to curtail citizens’ mobility.
On April 24, People Power Party spokesperson Ham In-kyung said in a statement that Jung’s suggestion to expand flexible and remote work to address congestion is closer to avoidance than to a substantive solution.
Ham said Jung responded to a question about traffic by saying, “we should reduce supply,” and cited the work-from-home experience during the COVID-19 pandemic to emphasize social efficiency. Ham characterized that response as piecemeal and said it ignores the fundamentals of transport policy.
He added that remote and flexible work during the pandemic were emergency, temporary measures. If such practices become permanent policy, Ham asked, how would Seoul’s industrial structure, job creation, and corporate productivity be safeguarded?
Ham also criticized Jung’s emphasis on “managing” traffic volume, arguing that not all occupations can shift to remote work and that an exclusive focus on managing traffic risks sounding like an attempt to control how citizens move.
He argued that traffic policy requires a comprehensive approach: removing bottlenecks, optimizing the road network, expanding public transit, and reforming transfer systems. “Citizens don’t want a city that moves less; they want a city where they can move freely,” he said.
He further raised issues of fairness, saying it is inconsistent to require civil servants to come into the office to handle complaints while asking only private companies to expand flexible work. That approach leaves the public sector unchanged and shifts the burden onto the private sector, he argued.
“Seoul is not a laboratory,” he added, stressing that residents expect practical problem-solving, not politics that forces them to endure needless inconvenience.
©Dailian Co., Ltd. Unauthorized reproduction and redistribution prohibited
- People Power Party media freedom committee: Jung Won-o even suggested article angles…Stop press suppression
- [Local election scene] Residents flocked to cheer…Jung Won-o’s visit to his political hometown draws huge crowds
- [June 3 pick] Kim Jae-seop: “Supply of traffic volume” — what country is that? He sparred with Jung Won-o over traffic-congestion solutions
- [June 3 pick] Jung Won-o’s camp: The solution is “traffic dispersion”…Kim Jae-seop should learn to understand context
- Song Eon-seok: Jung Won-o says reducing supply makes road expansion unnecessary — is he trying to shrink the number of drivers in Seoul?
Most Commented