Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Halts Funding for Autonomous District Residents' Schools... Seodaemun District Mayor Moon Seok-jin Demands Payment

Seodaemun-gu Mayor Moon Seok-jin Urges Seoul City to Release KRW 183.523 Million Subsidy to Seodaemun-gu at Non-Face-to-Face Seoul Mayors' Council Meeting on the 31st, Citing Concerns Over Major Disruptions to Resident Autonomy School and Neighborhood Autonomy Association Projects... Submits 'Request for City Funds' Agenda to Seoul Mayors' Council

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Seodaemun-gu (Mayor Moon Seok-jin) announced on the 31st that a significant portion of the remaining budget, excluding some amounts already disbursed, from the resident autonomy committee budget planned to be allocated by Seoul City in 2021 has not been executed, raising concerns about major disruptions to related projects.

Seoul City initially allocated approximately 630 million KRW as a city subsidy for the 2021 ‘Seodaemun-gu Resident Autonomy Committee Pilot Project.’

Accordingly, the resident autonomy committees in Seodaemun-gu’s neighborhoods identified 263 local agendas, held non-face-to-face resident general meetings, and finally selected 107 agendas reflecting the characteristics of each neighborhood, accelerating the pilot project’s progress.

However, according to the district office, about 180 million KRW for the Resident Autonomy Project Team’s business expenses and neighborhood resident autonomy committee secretarial activity fees, which were scheduled to be disbursed in June this year, have not been provided.

A district official stated, “As a result, it is inevitable that plans for the second half of this year, including ▲ operation of the Resident Autonomy School ▲ neighborhood resident autonomy committee’s climate crisis response ‘Green Autonomy’ ▲ establishment of a Seodaemun-type resident autonomy committee public-private cooperation system ▲ and discovery of in-depth local agendas, will face setbacks.”

Mayor Moon Seok-jin attended the 163rd regular meeting of the Seoul City Mayors’ Association held online on the morning of the 31st, submitted a proposal requesting city funds related to this issue, and emphasized, “City funds originally allocated to each autonomous district must continue to be supported to ensure the Seoul-type resident autonomy project is firmly established.”

Mayor Moon said, “I believe Seoul City will faithfully fulfill its commitment and intention to revitalize grassroots democracy through support for resident autonomy committees,” and repeatedly urged, “Please execute the city funds scheduled to be disbursed by 2022 as planned.”

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