Seoul mayor stands firm on cutting budget for 'questionable' civic groups

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks during a press briefing at city hall, Monday. Yonhap

By Bahk Eun-ji

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon vowed that he would continue his thorough review of the city government's financial support for civic groups and make cuts where necessary, as he has maintained the city has misspent its budget for the last decade when his predecessor, Park Won-soon, was in power.

Oh also promised to reduce the subsidies for civic group-related projects for at least three years.

Regarding this project, called “Set up right Seoul City,” Oh said, “The Seoul Metropolitan Government will review the financial support that has been extended to civic groups mostly with a 'questionable' history despite not making tangible progress over the past decade directly and indirectly, and will tighten morale among public servants in the city government.”

“Although Seoul Metropolitan Council opposed it and overrode a significant portion of the budget cuts that we suggested, we only achieved half of our original goal, but once we started, we have already taken a big step,” he said in a press briefing at City Hall.

The mayor has criticized the support funds system undertaken by former Mayor Park, accusing him of having spent taxpayers' money by offering generous financial support to certain civic groups during his tenure.

When asked about the fact that around 1,090 civic groups across the country accused him of defamation, Oh said that although he called them civic groups, they deserve to be considered “business groups” based on their nature, and thus the city government won't be able to provide financial support by using taxpayers' money.

Oh reiterated that this move is not a means to erase Park's achievements, but is Oh's determination to correct wayward administrative works.

Regarding Seoul Vision 2030, Oh's master plan announced last September for the city government's policy direction over the next decade, the mayor said, “We are taking steps for the policies to be implemented, and comprehensive plans for autonomous driving, childcare, welfare for single-person households, climate change response and economy will be announced in turn soon.”

The mayor also said that he would set up a redevelopment plan in the first half of this year for the Sewoon district, around Euljiro, which is suffering urban decay due to prolonged delays in redevelopment projects.

“This large area of the Sewoon district, which is the downtown area encompassing Gwanghwamun, Euljiro and Jongno, has been outdated for 10 years now as it cannot be used for commercial or residential purposes,” he said.

“The future task of the city government is how to develop this large core area of Seoul harmoniously into a space that can preserve both nature and history while being commercially vibrant.”

Oh also reiterated his intention to run for re-election on June 1.

“No citizen thinks that I will not run for election in June. Even when I ran for the by-election last year, my election pledges were made on the premise that I would work for five years,” he said.

“I couldn't think about a detailed plan because there is a presidential election scheduled ahead of that, so at the moment, I won't keep any election schedule in mind.”