Baek Hyunjin "Stop Lying" Rebuttal Banner Against the Democratic Party

Criticism Also from Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon
Refuting Democratic Party's Claims Over Next Year's Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Budget

Assemblywoman Bae Hyunjin of the People Power Party hung a banner stating "We will not be fooled by the Democratic Party's lies" over a banner put up by Song Mo, the Democratic Party's local committee chairman in the district. Photo by Bae Hyunjin

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] Bae Hyunjin, a member of the People Power Party, consecutively attacked the Democratic Party and Cho Hee-yeon, the Superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, regarding the education office budget.

On the 17th, Representative Bae installed rebuttal banners wherever Democratic Party Song Mo, the local committee chairman of Songpa-eul in Seoul, had hung his banners within her constituency. Song’s banners stated, "The People Power Party cut the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education budget by 568.8 billion KRW. As a result, there is zero budget to verify whether asbestos (a carcinogen) remains inside school facilities. Are you ignoring the safety and health of children?"

In response, Representative Bae’s rebuttal banners read, "The Seoul education office budget increased by 2.3029 trillion KRW compared to last year. We are not fooled by the Democratic Party’s lies." On the 17th, Bae posted photos of both the Democratic Party’s banners and her own on Facebook, saying, "Let’s stop this," but also explained the reason for putting up the banners, stating, "We cannot just stand by and ignore lies."

On the 18th, Bae posted again on Facebook, saying, "I requested 100 billion KRW for Songpa-eul’s budget, but if the government does not allocate it all, should I also hang a banner saying ‘the government cut the budget’?" She criticized, "Allocating the new year’s budget funded by taxpayers is not a game of Burumabul (a board game), and if the budget is insufficient, is it your own pocket money that you can just pull out?"

Then, Representative Bae attacked Cho Hee-yeon, the Superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. Cho recently expressed concern over the 568.8 billion KRW cut in next year’s Seoul education office budget that passed the city council. Regarding Cho’s remarks, Bae said, "Despite a sound fiscal policy, Seoul paid more attention to children’s education budget and increased the Seoul education office budget by 2.3 trillion KRW compared to last year. Yet, they matched the tune that children will study in colder or hotter classrooms because they received 500 billion KRW less than what they requested." She added, "Where do you plan to spend the extra 2.3 trillion KRW compared to last year? Stop fabricating public opinion."

Next year’s Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education budget totals 12.3227 trillion KRW and passed the Seoul City Council plenary session on the 16th. This is an increase of 2.3029 trillion KRW from this year’s budget of 10.5887 trillion KRW. While Democratic Party local committee chairman Song Mo criticized the People Power Party for cutting 568.8 billion KRW from the original education office budget, Representative Bae focused on the fact that the budget increased by 16.4% compared to this year.

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