Oh Se-hoon Says 190 City Bus Routes Rerouted… Course and Schedule of 2027 Marathon to Be Renegotiated from Scratch

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said on the 2nd that he would renegotiate next year's marathon course and schedule from scratch. The trigger was the previous day's traffic controls in the city center, and the changed course and date were not presented.

Translated from Korean with AI assistance. Read the original. Sources and original publication dates are retained.

Marathon races sponsored by the Seoul city government were reported to have fallen from 15 in 2025 to 7 this year, according to SBS, which reported Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's explanation. The explanation says more than half were cut, but on November 1, traffic controls in central Seoul spread civilian inconvenience. In the same explanation, central government-sponsored races rose from 1 to 23. The entities behind the decrease and the increase were different.

Oh Se-hoon Renegotiates Marathon Course… From November 1 Traffic Controls to the 2nd's Statement

It began on November 1. The marathon held that day led to traffic controls in central Seoul, and civilian inconvenience continued. On the following day, the 2nd, Mayor Oh posted his position on Facebook, according to Yonhap News, Oh said: "We will renegotiate the course and schedule for next year's race from scratch." Since the remark was made on November 2, 2026, 'next year' here refers to 2027.

According to Maeil Business, Mayor Oh explained that he had repeatedly asked the organizers to adjust the course but failed to prevent large-scale civilian inconvenience. He himself acknowledged that advance requests alone were not enough. So what he brought up was a fundamental countermeasure to be built together with the government, police, and event organizers. He intends to re-examine the course and schedule from scratch.

That is as far as the confirmed information goes. In reports checked up to 2 p.m. on the 2nd, the individual courses to be changed and the event date were not presented. Mayor Oh's current position is a stage in which he expressed intent to renegotiate, and does not mean the consultations have concluded.

Effectiveness of Guidelines for Rerouting 190 City Bus Routes and Departures Before 7:30 a.m.

The figure presented to show the scale of the inconvenience is 190 city bus routes. According to SBS, Mayor Oh said this many routes had been rerouted the previous day. However, the official raw tally data has not been secured, and the accuracy of the measurement cannot be verified from reports that merely repeated the same Facebook post.

This does not mean there were no existing measures. The management steps Mayor Oh presented were reported as departures before 7:30 a.m. and caps on participants per location. Both measures adjust timing and headcounts. Whether these two measures reduced the inconvenience has not been confirmed with figures. The remaining issue is where to strike the balance between participants' right to take part in the event and non-participating citizens' right to mobility.

Comparison of Seoul City-sponsored (7) and central government-sponsored (23) races by number of events

Placing the number of races side by side by sponsor shows Mayor Oh's explanation in a different light. The yearly figures in the table below are the mayor's explanation as reported by SBS, while the changes and totals are our calculations. Because no official list of races or evidence of sponsoring organizations has been secured, it cannot be stated as verified administrative statistics. This table summarizes the mayor's side of the explanation.

Number of marathon races sponsored, based on Mayor Oh's explanation

Sponsor	2025 (races)	2026 (races)	Change (races)
Seoul City	15	7	-8
Central government	1	23	+22
Simple total	16	30	+14

Seoul City sponsorship fell by 8 races, from 15 to 7, a 53% decrease (8÷15). Central government sponsorship rose by 22 races. Simply adding the two, the total rose by 14, from 16 to 30, and Seoul City's share falls from 94% (15÷16) to 23% (7÷30). However, it has not been confirmed whether the two counts include overlapping races.

It is also premature to conclude who will actually change the course. Mayor Oh named the government, police, and event organizers together as the parties to consult.

The revised course and date for the 2027 race have not yet been set. The exact time the Facebook post was published has not been confirmed. A remark from Mayor Oh in SBS's report on the 2nd shows the baseline for the discussion: "The roads belong to all citizens."

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Which year's race does Oh Se-hoon's marathon renegotiation apply to?

Since the remark was made on November 2, 2026, 'next year' in the remark refers to 2027. The target is the course and schedule of the 2027 race.

Q. Has the Oh Se-hoon marathon course change plan been finalized?

It has not been finalized. The stage confirmed in the reports on the 2nd is an expression of intent to renegotiate; the individual courses to be changed and the event date have not been presented.

Q. How many marathon races sponsored by Seoul City have been cut?

According to Mayor Oh's explanation, the number fell from 15 in 2025 to 7 in 2026. A race-by-race list has not been separately confirmed, so these figures should be read as the mayor's own explanation.

Related Official Websites

Seoul Metropolitan Government Official Website — Check official Seoul City announcements and city news
Official Profile of the Mayor of Seoul — Check Mayor Oh Se-hoon's official biography

Representative image · Archive photo · Not an on-site photo of the current event in the article · Photo=Wikimedia Commons (Gapo), CC BY-SA 3.0