Citizen Group "Oh Se-hoon, Defamation by Spreading False Information"... Police Report Filed and Seoul City Public Audit Requested

Nationwide 1090 Civic Groups Hold Press Conference for 'Citizen Action to Normalize Regressive Mayor Oh Se-hoon's Seoul Administration'
Seoul City: "Support Issues Confirmed in Multiple Areas... Will Contest in Lawsuit with Evidence on False Information"

On the 26th, the 'Press Conference for the Accusation of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Request for Public Audit of Seoul City' was held at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul. / Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The "Citizen Action for the Normalization of the Regressive Oh Se-hoon Seoul City Administration," formed by 1,090 civic groups nationwide, has filed a defamation lawsuit against Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and requested a public audit of Seoul city administration by the Board of Audit and Inspection.

On the 26th, the citizen action group held a press conference at the Korea Press Center and stated, "Mayor Oh claimed that Seoul City unfairly supported civic society with budgets and spread false information by manipulating the support amounts," announcing that they would file a defamation complaint with the police regarding publications and other materials. Last year, through the announcement of "Restoring Seoul City," Mayor Oh pointed out that during the previous mayor's 10-year term, Seoul City had provided 1 trillion won in private subsidies and private consignment funds to civic groups, turning the city into a private ATM.

In response, the citizen action group argued that the amount estimated by Mayor Oh significantly differs from the actual amount and that the 1 trillion won support includes several hundred billion won given to general institutions such as universities and media companies, making the claim false. They added that they would also request a public audit of Seoul city administration from the Board of Audit and Inspection in the names of about 500 Seoul citizens.

The citizen action group criticized, "Mayor Oh's budget formulation this year drastically cut the citizen budget while allocating a large-scale budget to his campaign projects, which is illegal and unjust."

They particularly claimed that the group operating the Housing Welfare Center under consignment had their contracts collectively terminated and that the Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH) was entrusted with operations, harming housing stability for low-income and impoverished groups. They also alleged that Mayor Oh disparaged the achievements related to social housing operations and defamed the operating entities through his personal YouTube channel. The citizen action group emphasized, "The defamation lawsuit and public audit request against Mayor Oh are citizen actions for citizens to protect and build Seoul themselves," and urged, "Immediately stop the targeted audits against civic groups."

In response, Seoul City released a rebuttal statement in the afternoon denying the claims made by the citizen action group. Seoul City stated, "We confirmed that consignment projects centered on specific groups, appointments of related personnel to supervisory departments, and baseless subsidy projects were promoted," but also rebutted, "We clearly stated at the time of the announcement that not all of the 1 trillion won can be considered wrongful support."

Regarding Mayor Oh's criticism of social housing through his personal YouTube channel, Seoul City explained, "He disclosed information that the public needs to know in accordance with the Act on Disclosure of Information by Public Agencies," and added, "Whether Seoul City's press releases constitute 'defamation based on false facts' will be actively contested during the litigation process using already disclosed evaluation reports and various supporting documents for the public's right to know."

They further added, "Separately, for projects currently under audit, such as the village community private consignment projects, follow-up measures will be taken based on the audit results."

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