Jeong Wono's Camp Denies Jeong Cheongrae and Moon Jae-in 'Unfollow' Rumors: "He Was Never Following Them"

Jeong Cheongrae Faces Responsibility for Local Election Defeat
Song Younggil Directly Raises Issue of "Responsibility of Jeong Cheongrae"

The camp of Jeong Wono, former Seongdong-gu District Mayor and the Democratic Party of Korea's candidate for Seoul mayor in the June 3 local elections, has responded to recent rumors claiming that he "unfollowed" (removed as a friend) Representative Jeong Cheongrae's social media account and followed former party leader Song Younggil, stating that "this is not true."

Jung Won-oh, the Democratic Party candidate for Seoul mayor, and Jung Chung-rae, the party leader, are greeting citizens at Exit 5 of Yeouido Station in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul on April 26. 2026.05.26 Photo by Dongju Yoon

On June 13, Jeong's camp issued a statement saying, "The claim that former district mayor Jeong unfollowed former President Moon Jae-in and Representative Jeong Cheongrae's accounts on Instagram is not true," adding, "He has not been following them for some time already."

Recently, Representative Jeong Cheongrae has been facing criticism from both inside and outside the party for failing to win back the Seoul mayoral seat and for losing key seats in the by-elections. As a result, he is under pressure to take responsibility for the defeat in the June 3 local elections and not to run in the upcoming party convention. Former leader Song Younggil also raised the issue of responsibility after the local elections, stating, "The party leader bears all political responsibility," clearly targeting Representative Jeong Cheongrae.

With Song Younggil being mentioned as a potential candidate for the next Democratic Party leadership along with Prime Minister Kim Minseok, some Democratic Party supporters have interpreted Jeong Wono's decision not to follow Representative Jeong Cheongrae as a sign that he may also oppose Jeong Cheongrae's bid for re-election at the next party convention.

Additionally, Jeong Wono's camp strongly denied allegations that he had "liked" a post regarding Seoul Mayor Oh Sehoon's alleged violation of the Political Funds Act related to Mr. Myung Taegyun, stating, "There is no truth to the claim that he liked such a post," and urged people to refrain from making reckless speculations.

The post in question reportedly claimed, "In May, before the local elections, Mr. Myung called Jeong Wono's campaign and said, 'Jeong Wono may lose this election, but since Mayor Oh Sehoon could be removed from office due to his trial, be prepared for a by-election.'"

Meanwhile, in the Seoul mayoral race held during the nationwide local elections on June 3, People Power Party candidate Oh Sehoon won with 2,575,819 votes (49.22%), while Democratic Party candidate Jeong Wono received 2,515,560 votes (48.07%), with Oh Sehoon ultimately winning by a final margin of 1.15 percentage points.

Jeong Wono, who served three terms as Seongdong-gu District Mayor, campaigned on the "Seongsu-dong success story," pledging to "create a second Seongsu-dong" and even published a book titled <Seongsu-dong> upon announcing his candidacy. However, it was tallied that Oh Sehoon received more votes in all four administrative districts of Seongsu-dong.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.