Seongnam Citizens' Group "Mayor Shin Sang-jin's 'Normalization Special Committee' Illegal... Will Request Resident Audit"

[Asia Economy (Seongnam) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Shin Sang-jin, the mayor of Seongnam City, has faced allegations that the 'Normalization Special Committee' established for the transition of city administration is an illegal organization. The Normalization Special Committee is a temporary committee set up and operated by Mayor Shin Sang-jin after his inauguration.

Park Young-gi, representative of the 'Seongnam Citizens' Group Urging Administration for the Citizens (tentative name),' stated, "The Normalization Special Committee established by Mayor Shin Sang-jin for the city administration transition does not have authority under Article 105 of the Local Autonomy Act or related ordinances to investigate or probe into corruption or issues of the previous mayor. It does not define powers related to investigation, inquiry, or fact-finding concerning the previous mayor," adding, "The Normalization Special Committee, lacking legal and ordinance basis, is an illegal organization."

He particularly pointed out, "They are committing illegal acts such as demanding call records from the mobile phones of former mayors, secretaries, and aides, which can only be executed by investigative agencies with search warrants," and added, "The Normalization Special Committee's request for official mobile phone call records violates the Telecommunications Privacy Protection Act and constitutes illegal acts of personal information infringement and abuse of authority."

Furthermore, he criticized, "The Normalization Special Committee revealed suspicions of illegal hiring by stating that the function of the executive recommendation committee to recommend candidates was effectively nullified during the appointment of Mr. A as the full-time director and administrative vice president of the Seongnam Medical Center on May 11. This disclosure of confidential information related to official duties to the media and use for purposes other than the mayoral transition constitutes abuse of authority."

Accordingly, Representative Park declared, "The Seongnam Citizens' Group will immediately proceed with a 'resident audit request' under Article 21 of the Local Autonomy Act and related Gyeonggi-do ordinances to resolve Mayor Shin Sang-jin's illegal and improper administration," adding, "The citizens' group plans to recruit 200 resident audit applicants by the 24th and formally file the resident audit request with Gyeonggi-do on the 25th."

He urged, "Mayor Shin should stop indulging in futile political strife by creating an illegal organization called the Normalization Special Committee and instead focus on the difficult lives of citizens and the underprivileged who are facing survival crises due to high inflation and the spread of COVID-19, and dedicate himself to an administration that makes citizens happy and serves the people."

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