Oh Se-hoon: "1 Trillion Won in Subsidies and Private Consignment Support to Civic Groups Over 10 Years... I Will Correct Wrong Practices"

"Seoul City's Treasury Has Become an ATM Exclusively for Civic Groups," Claims
"We Will Correct Wrong Practices and Normalize All Abnormalities"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced his intention to rectify the improper practices surrounding nearly 1 trillion won in subsidies and private consignment projects executed during the tenure of the late former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon. He particularly emphasized that private subsidies and consignment projects in the civil society sector have been operated as a 'closed league' without checks and balances, expressing a strong will for reform.

On the 13th, Mayor Oh stressed this through an unscheduled announcement titled 'Position on Setting Seoul Right,' stating, "Over the past 10 years, subsidies and private consignment funds paid by Seoul City in areas such as villages, urban regeneration, social economy, resident autonomy, and cooperation, not to mention housing, youth, labor, urban agriculture, environment, energy, and inter-Korean exchanges, amount to nearly 1 trillion won." He added, "Upon reviewing some of the expenditure details, it was deeply regrettable."

Mayor Oh first criticized the practice of providing subsidies through intermediary organizations called 'brokerage offices' created for some civic groups, calling it an abdication of responsibility to citizens. He explained, "In the civil society sector, private consignment projects have been operated by creating 'brokerage offices' as intermediary support organizations, where certain civic groups distribute subsidies to other civic groups," adding, "The Seoul City treasury, which is maintained with citizens' hard-earned taxes, has been reduced to an exclusive ATM for civic groups."

As a result of investigating related projects, he also claimed that the overall consignment projects are managed by a 'civic group-type pyramid' or 'civic group-type multi-level' structure dominated by individuals from civic groups. Mayor Oh pointed out, "Support for civic groups has been operated within what is called their own league," and "Individuals from civic groups have been stationed as fixed-term public officials throughout Seoul City, overseeing everything from selecting consignment contractors to guidance and supervision, creating their own village and ecosystem."

He strongly criticized the private subsidy projects during former Mayor Park's administration as well. For example, in the case of village community projects, more than half of the budget went to personnel expenses, and the annual salary of the heads of resident autonomy project teams established in each autonomous district exceeded 50 million won. In youth projects, individuals from civic groups were appointed as heads of the relevant Seoul City departments and blatantly concentrated support on specific civic groups.

Furthermore, he pointed out that the NPO Support Center, a cooperation project, granted preferential treatment by commissioning related civic groups for services, and that social housing, which SH (Seoul Housing Corporation) could handle, was instead supported by an organization identified as a socio-economic entity, with Seoul City providing land leases, interest subsidies, and business loan financing.

He stated, "There were frequent cases of overlapping support to specific civic groups, and despite excessive budget execution, performance evaluations were very inadequate," adding, "There were even cases where settlement reports transparently disclosing expenses used for subsidy projects as required by law were not properly submitted." He further claimed, "Regarding the Social Investment Fund, about 4 billion won was paid under the name of consignment fees to a specific organization entrusted with fund management," and "If Seoul City had operated it directly through a public institution, it could have saved citizens' taxes."

In response, Mayor Oh declared that he will correct the deeply rooted improper practices in private subsidies and consignment projects in the civil society sector over the past decade and normalize all abnormal matters. He hopes that these issues will not be dismissed as merely 'erasing the traces of former Mayor Park Won-soon,' stating, "It is the responsibility given to the head of Seoul City and the mission of checks and balances given to the City Council. I will strive to ensure that not a single penny of the budget is wasted going forward."

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