Nowon-gu Clarifies Regarding Reports on Alleged Corruption in Woo Won-sik Lawmaker's Family: "Project Selected Fairly and Transparently"

Nowon-gu Claims on the 24th Afternoon Briefing Materials That "Resident Participation Budget Projects (Seoul City, Nowon-gu) Are Selected Through Objective and Transparent Evaluation via Online Voting and Committee Review"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Nowon-gu District Office (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) on the 24th addressed reports by some media outlets stating that "the police have launched an internal investigation into allegations of false subsidy claims and other corrupt practices involving the family of Assemblyman Woo Won-sik," clarifying that the projects related to Nowon-gu are "projects selected through fair and transparent procedures."

The reports stem from a complaint filed at the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission by the civic group 'Nowon Baroseugi Residents' Coalition' at the end of October, raising suspicions including ▲ false claims and improper receipt of local subsidies by a counseling center operated by Assemblyman Woo's wife, Ms. A ▲ embezzlement of instructor fees by assistant instructors ▲ excessive claims for instructor fees, among other allegations, to which Nowon-gu has officially responded.

Regarding the allegations of false claims and improper receipt of local subsidies, Nowon-gu explained that the projects conducted by Assemblyman Woo's wife in the community from 2016 to 2019 were carried out by a coalition of 3 to 4 organizations, including the 'Happy Family Counseling Coaching Center,' funded through Seoul City and Nowon-gu’s resident participation budgets. These projects were humanities-related psychological counseling programs aimed at boosting the self-esteem of participants in self-support projects.

In 2016 and 2017, three organizations (Happy Family Counseling Coaching Center, Nowon Social Economy Council, Nowon Education Support Center Naranhi) formed a coalition and applied for Seoul City’s participatory budget projects. After fair evaluation through citizen online voting and a resident participatory budget committee composed of 300 members, they received an annual budget of 32 million KRW.

In 2018, three organizations (Youth and Naranhi, Happy Family Counseling Coaching Center, Nowon Social Economy Council) formed a coalition and applied for Nowon-gu’s resident participatory budget projects. Following online voting by residents and review by a 50-member resident participatory budget committee, the three organizations were selected and each received a budget of 10 million KRW to conduct humanities and psychological counseling programs.

The 2019 project was conducted as a public contest open to anyone through the Nowon-gu website. From February 1 to 15, 2019, project proposals were accepted via the Nowon-gu website. Ultimately, four organizations (Happy Family Counseling Coaching Center, Nowon Regional Self-Support Center, Nowon Southern Regional Self-Support Center, Nowon Northern Regional Self-Support Center) applied and were all selected as educational institutions through review. The project budget of 30 million KRW was distributed equally among the four institutions to carry out the project.

Therefore, the resident participatory budget projects (Seoul City, Nowon-gu) were selected through objective and transparent evaluations involving online voting and committee review.

According to Article 39 of the Local Finance Act, resident participatory budget projects were introduced to guarantee residents’ opportunities to participate in the local government’s budget formulation process. The selection process is stipulated to be based on 30% online voting and 70% review by the resident participatory budget committee of the applicants’ project plans.

Regarding the embezzlement of assistant instructor fees, the assistant instructor fees were set according to the Seoul Human Resources Development Institute’s instructor fee payment standards: 40,000 KRW per hour and 80,000 KRW for two hours. Typically, one main instructor and three assistant instructors (with additional assistants as needed) participate in program operations, and the payment of instructor fees was confirmed to be appropriate accordingly.

Regarding excessive claims for instructor fees, the lecture fees were determined by referencing the Seoul Human Resources Development Institute’s standards (150,000 KRW per hour, 75,000 KRW for each additional hour) and the Community Chest of Korea’s standards (180,000 KRW per hour, 100,000 KRW for each additional hour). Considering the instructors’ experience and qualifications (such as completion of doctoral degrees), fees of 120,000 KRW per hour and an additional 120,000 KRW for each extra hour were paid, confirming that the instructor fees were appropriately paid.

In this way, these projects were selected fairly and transparently through resident participatory budget projects decided by citizen votes and public contest projects announced on the Nowon-gu District Office website, the office explained.

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