"‘Mun Jun-yong Review Not Disclosed’ Faces Fierce Attacks from Opposition Seoul Mayoral Candidates... 'We Will Reform'"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Regarding Moon Jun-yong, the eldest son of President Moon Jae-in, receiving 14 million won in COVID-19 artist support funds, opposition candidates for Seoul mayor launched fierce attacks after the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, the paying agency, announced a policy of not disclosing the screening results.

Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, shared a related article on Facebook on the 22nd and said, "This is one of the reform tasks for Seoul city administration," adding, "We will establish certain procedures and criteria for screenings involving public funds and make the results public and accessible."

He also stated, "We will reform the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture to operate fairly so that there is no reason to hide scores."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Former People Power Party lawmaker Lee Hye-hoon also wrote on Facebook that day, "I will put an end to this kind of Seoul," pointing out, "The persistent issue with budget execution by Seoul city and related institutions has been that the selection of recipients is not convincing and even the disclosure of screening criteria and grounds is refused."

He added, "There is a widespread saying that Seoul city is screening people rather than projects," and said, "Judging from the behavior of the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture related to Mr. Moon, the rumors may not be mere hearsay."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Former lawmaker Lee said, "The reason the affiliated institution operating with Seoul city budget announced an absolute refusal policy to disclose the screening criteria, scores, and grounds for Mr. Moon receiving 14 million won is because it contains personal information," adding, "In such cases, it is common sense to disclose pseudonymized or anonymized information that excludes personal privacy unrelated to the screening content determining budget support."

He criticized, "Mr. Moon had already applied for support from a private foundation for the same project for which he received 14 million won from the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture earlier this January and received 30 million won," and said, "The Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, which claims that overlapping support of the same project funded by private sources and taxpayers’ money is not a problem, does not deserve to use the people’s tax money."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.