Mayor attends council meeting

By Kim Rahn

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said both the city government and council should submit to the result of a residents’ referendum to be held soon over the free school lunch program.

He made the remark Monday while attending the opening ceremony of the Seoul Metropolitan Council’s regular session, his first attendance in six months since he began boycotting the sessions to protest the council’s unilateral push for the school meals last December.

During a three-day interpellation session through Thursday, a heated argument is expected between Oh and the council, as the two sides resume talks after the standoff over the meal program and the relevant residents’ referendum, the city’s waterway project, and budget allocation.

“The free meal program, which led to the standoff, will be put to a referendum following the collection of 800,000 signatures. Now it is in citizens’ hands. I propose the city government and the council submit to the result without raising objections,” the mayor said in an address.

Oh asked the council to cooperate in problems involving childcare, care for the elderly, housing and job creation. “I propose the city government and the council make joint efforts to solve these four major problems regardless of their difference in political views,” he said.

The mayor also sought the council’s cooperation in his project to connect Yeouido in central Seoul and Gimpo in Gyeonggi Province with a waterway which will be linked to the West Sea. The council has cut proposed spending for the project.

“If the construction is halted and ships can’t reach central Seoul, we’ll suffer from the loss of a huge number of tourists and jobs and a lot of other economic benefits as the waterway is a key infrastructure for tourism,” he said.

The council, however, criticized Oh’s six-month boycott of its sessions and his key projects.

“The mayor should take responsibility for not attending the council’s sessions, which is a dereliction of his duty. Holding the referendum will cost 18.2 billion won. The mayor should not spend taxpayers’ money for his personal political purposes,” said council Chairman Heo Kwang-tai.

Heo also criticized the waterway project, which Oh plans to push through despite a lack of funds. “The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) said the city is promoting an economically inefficient project which is certain to lead to a deficit in the city treasury.”

His remark comes a day after the BAI said the waterway project lacks economic efficiency and asked the city government to work out measures for alternative plans. The auditor pointed out the city inflated demand and underestimated expenses.

Regarding the outcome of the audit, city officials said the different opinions on economic efficiency between the city and the BAI resulted from different criteria they took. “We see the waterway as a harbor project, while the BAI evaluated it as a railway project. We’ll ask the BAI to review it,” Liu Gyoung-gee, the city’s assistant mayor, said.