Saebit Uijeong Forum "Lee Yong-seop's Ignorant View of the Assembly... Condemning the Lineup of City Council Members"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Saebit Legislative Forum condemned on the 11th, stating, “It is shocking how ignorant Gwangju Mayor candidate Lee Yong-seop’s view of the city council, the representative body of citizens, is,” and urged him to “immediately stop lining up incumbent city council members.”

Composed of former basic and metropolitan council members from the Gwangju area, Saebit Legislative Forum held a press conference at the Gwangju City Council that morning, stating, “Candidate Lee gave an absurd response that ‘the council has practically lost its function’ when criticized for the impropriety of incumbent council members joining his election camp.”

They emphasized, “The city council is the representative body of citizens that reviews budgets and enacts ordinances, and it is the legislative body established by the Constitution of the Republic of Korea under the separation of powers.” They added, “Like the administration, the council’s functions do not cease even if there are no sessions such as temporary meetings.”

They further criticized, “We cannot hide our disappointment at candidate Lee Yong-seop’s hypocrisy, who declared his intention to run for re-election emphasizing administrative continuity.”

The organization pointed out, “The taxpayers’ money paid to Song Hyung-il, Chair of the Budget and Accounts Committee, Kim Kwang-ran, and Kim Ik-joo, members of the Budget and Accounts Committee, who joined candidate Lee’s camp, is not meant to secure positions such as Chair of the Climate and Environment Committee, Chief Secretary, or Chair of the Local Autonomy Committee within the election camp.”

They continued, “If, as candidate Lee claims, the city council’s functions have already been lost, then the incumbent council members should return the salaries they are currently receiving,” and questioned, “Why do incumbent council members who have lost their functions and are practically not working receive salaries?”

Finally, they stressed, “The remaining term of about two months for city council members is a time to review past legislative activities and discuss local issues with public officials,” and strongly condemned candidate Lee Yong-seop for regarding this precious time as ‘dead time’ due to the loss of council functions and for taking incumbent council members’ line-up as a given.”

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