Kim Sang-uk wins Ulsan mayoral race on unified progressive ticket

Candidate unification between the Democratic Party of Korea and the Progressive Party proved decisive in Ulsan's most closely watched race, delivering a change in leadership at City Hall. Kim Sang-uk, who gained national recognition for his role in the Dec. 3 emergency martial law episode, ran as the unified progressive candidate and won with 48.73 percent of the vote, defeating People Power Party candidate Kim Du-gyeom, who received 45.74 percent, by a margin of 2.99 percentage points.

"This election is a victory for citizens, democracy and the people — I see it as a solemn mandate to walk the right path toward realizing civic sovereignty," Kim said in his victory remarks. "Together with our comrades from the Democratic Party of Korea, the Progressive Party and the Rebuilding Korea Party, as well as reasonable conservatives, we will build a world of true democracy."

In the five district chief races, the Democratic Party and the Progressive Party fielded unified candidates across the board but managed to win only the Buk-gu district chief seat. The PPP took the district chief posts in Jung-gu, Nam-gu and Dong-gu, as well as the Ulju-gun county executive seat.

Particularly notable was the Dong-gu result, a district considered a progressive stronghold due to its large shipbuilding workforce and one that former Progressive Party Dong-gu chief Kim Jong-hun had long cultivated. PPP candidate Cheon Gi-ok, a former city council member, defeated Progressive Party candidate Park Mun-ok, a district council member, to claim the seat.

In the city council races — where the PPP had swept all 19 seats in the 2022 local elections — the new lineup gave the PPP 13 seats, the Democratic Party five and the Progressive Party one.

Political observers in the region said the outcome at least preserved a check on the progressive bloc. "The unified Democratic-Progressive candidates changed only the mayor and took just one of four city council seats, so conservatives can at least keep the progressives in check," one local political figure said.