A Young Mayor Pushes Reform

With a population of more than 10 million, Seoul is the creative, often chaotic heart of the dynamic South Korean economy. To bring order to the chaos and revitalize the city, Mayor Oh Se-hoon, 47, has launched an ambitious transformation plan that includes rehabilitating the city's Han River waterfront, promoting a blend of ancient culture and modern technology, and emphasizing design and design-related industries. In the latest in his series of interviews as part of NEWSWEEK's partnership with the Kaplan University M.B.A. program, NEWSWEEK chairman Richard M. Smith spoke with Oh about his quest to make Seoul a truly global, business-friendly city.

SMITH: You run a huge city, a quarter of the population of the country. What are the biggest challenges?
OH: The vision I have established for the city is focused on software, not hardware. When I took office, I started to emphasize things like culture, design and the creative city. I faced some resistance. So I spent a lot of time persuading people, giving lectures on my ideas. It's fortunate that Korean society is very open to accepting new things and new ideas. I also began to emphasize the importance of changing the working attitudes of public officials to become more creative. Now society and the general public have accepted these ideas.

By Korean standards, you are a very young man in a very big job. How has your age affected the way you lead the city?
My lack of experience actually turned into a driving force behind the changes we need. If I had a lot of experience in the public arena, I might have been reluctant to change customs that have been taken for granted. I've tried to apply the common sense of the general public when I look at city policies. I think Americans have the same kind of hope for Barack Obama. I believe he has great insight and good judgment. The fact that he doesn't have much experience in Washington will actually become a great force for changes the U.S. needs.

Korean organizations are known as being very hierarchical. How do you make sure people who work for you are telling you what they really believe and not what they think you want to hear?
Hierarchy equals bureaucracy. I've adopted the concept of a creative city administration. If you just do what you are told to do, you will never get promoted or recognized. It is always about trying new things and making them come true. At first there was a lot of confusion. But now it has settled in as a system at city hall.

You have talked about promoting growth by promoting culture. Can you elaborate?
It's impossible to promote economic growth by creating a culture that doesn't exist. Fortunately, Korea and Seoul have a long history, and we have a lot of cultural assets. So far, however, we haven't been able to take advantage of those assets. I try to market these so that the world recognizes Seoul as a city of culture. Korea heavily depends on trade with the outside world, and the products we export with a touch of culture will be sold at a more expensive price. We call this "culture-nomics."

Why do you think design is so important for Seoul's future?
Design is very important in today's business. Major companies have chief design officers sitting next to their CEOs. We already have 30,000 design students coming out of school every year. We have to make the best use of these human resources. Our goal is to have people say that if you want to see the latest design trend, you should go to Seoul. That will be a valuable asset for economic growth.

You said you want to make Seoul a global and business-friendly city. What are Seoul's assets for that?
By global standards, Seoul has a modern, high-tech basic infrastructure. Most importantly, Seoul is very safe and has a mayor who wants to make the city business-friendly. We want to accept foreigners like they are family. In Seoul, we have already various initiatives to create that kind of atmosphere. We want to be friendly to foreigners, and that is probably the best advantage we can have.

What lessons of leadership did you bring with you from your earlier legal career?
It is difficult to say that I have learned a lot about leadership in my career as a lawyer. But the driving force behind my entry into the National Assembly was my history of participation in civic organizations. I was deeply involved in environmental groups and learned to interpret what the society needs. As you engage in civic organizations, you feel thirsty because there are limitations on what you can do there. That is why you decide to go into politics.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, your predecessor as mayor, has seen his popularity fall fast since his election. What have you learned from this?
The new government of President Lee had communication problems, although it had a good vision. Koreans are very sensitive. No matter how good policies are, they resist if they are not persuaded enough. The initial policies of the government were good, but people were disappointed with the way it communicated. On top of that, we had the financial crisis that led to a rapid decrease in his popularity. But I believe his popularity will go up when people start to see the results of his policies.

What do you want to be judged on when you seek re-election for mayor in 2010?
I am very happy with what I have achieved so far. I am on the right track and we are seeing some results. Seoul will fail if we lose this momentum. This is the right time for my kind of leadership. I want to be judged on whether I successfully change the working environment of the city government. If I have created a working environment where public officials try new things, I should be recognized as a successful mayor.