Changwon City Council Adopts Administrative Investigation on Sahwa and Daesang Park Projects

Rejection of Bid Rigging Allegations in Municipal Waste Disposal Complex, Democratic Party Protests

The Changwon Special City Council in Gyeongnam is launching an administrative audit into the private park development special project for Sahwa and Daesang Parks.

On the 14th, the Changwon City Council held the 2nd plenary session of the 129th regular meeting and unanimously adopted the related proposal.

Changwon Special City Council, Gyeongnam.
Photo by Lee Seryeong

According to the city council, the Sahwa and Daesang Park private development special project was found in an audit to have caused financial damage worth approximately 115.1 billion KRW to the city due to the previous mayor’s administration violating relevant laws and regulations, granting special privileges such as exemption from purchasing public land to private developers, and failing to reflect the portion of increased profits owed to the city.

Lee Jeong-hee, a member of the People Power Party who was the chief proposer of the agenda, stated, “In relation to the audit results, we have a duty to form a special administrative audit committee to verify the audit office’s findings and facts, and to thoroughly investigate any legal violations and procedural issues to inform the citizens.”

In response, Baek Seung-gyu of the Democratic Party said, “At the last extraordinary session, both parties agreed to simultaneously form special administrative audit committees for the Sahwa and Daesang Park agenda requested by the People Power Party and the suspected bid-rigging case for the household waste recycling processing complex requested by the Democratic Party,” and while agreeing to the Sahwa and Daesang Park agenda, he requested cooperation on the household waste processing complex agenda.

The Sahwa and Daesang Park agenda was approved unanimously by all attending council members without any objections.

Vote results on the proposal for an administrative investigation regarding the bidding process for the private consignment management service of the comprehensive recycling processing complex for municipal solid waste in Changwon-si, Gyeongnam.
[Photo by Se-ryeong Lee]

The subsequent proposal for an administrative audit regarding the bidding process for the private consignment management service of the Changwon household waste recycling processing complex was rejected with 18 votes in favor, 23 against, and 1 abstention out of 42 members present.

Following this, some Democratic Party council members immediately left the session.

The Democratic Party of Korea's Changwon City Council members in Gyeongnam are condemning the rejection of the administrative investigation proposal related to allegations of bid-rigging in the private consignment management service for the comprehensive living waste recycling processing complex.
[Photo by Lee Seryeong]

After the session, the Democratic Party council members held a press conference in front of the city council entrance, condemning the passage of only the Sahwa and Daesang Park agenda as a “political administrative audit aimed at the general election.”

They claimed, “On October 19th, at the plenary session, the Democratic Party members had solely proposed a special administrative audit committee to investigate suspected bid-rigging in the Changwon household waste recycling processing complex, but the People Power Party insisted on including the Sahwa Park suspicions and only agreed to form the committee if both were included, ultimately leading to the rejection.”

They added, “The People Power Party, using their majority, passed only the administrative audit for Sahwa and Daesang Parks and rejected the audit for the household waste processing complex,” and stated, “We plan to file a national audit request with the Board of Audit and Inspection to ensure an investigation into the bid-rigging suspicions proceeds.”

Prior to the vote, the People Power Party opposed the administrative audit of the waste processing complex, citing that no procedural omissions according to relevant laws occurred during the bidding process and that the comprehensive audit by Gyeongnam Province did not raise any separate issues.

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