Hanam City Council Expresses Regret Over Signature Campaign Opposing Hanam Cultural Foundation Budget Cuts

Spreading False Information About 2025 Budget Including 'Hanam Music Festival' on Online Cafes and SNS
"Budget Deliberation and Resolution Are Exclusive Rights of the Council... Strict Review"

The Hanam City Council of Gyeonggi Province (Chairman Geum Gwang-yeon) recently issued a statement on the 6th expressing regret regarding the ongoing online signature campaign opposing budget cuts to the Hanam Cultural Foundation.

Panorama of Hanam City Council. Provided by Hanam City

On the same day, the Hanam City Council stated, "Recently, false information has been indiscriminately spread on SNS platforms such as online cafes and group chats in the Hanam area, suggesting that the council arbitrarily cut large portions of the cultural budget related to the 2025 budget review for the Hanam Music Festival ‘Music 人 The Hanam’ and ‘Stage Hanam Busking.’ This is deeply regrettable."

They continued, "The signature campaign titled ‘Hanam City Culture and Arts Guardians’ contains distorted facts and even refers to specific council members, which is unacceptable. Therefore, we feel compelled to clarify the facts through this statement," and proceeded to explain the results of the 2025 budget review.

As a result of the review by the Hanam City Council’s Budget and Accounts Special Committee on the 2025 budget proposal, the Hanam Music Festival ‘Music 人 The Hanam’ submitted by Hanam City had its budget cut by 75 million KRW (50%) from the original 150 million KRW, and the ‘Stage Hanam Busking’ hosted by the Hanam Cultural Foundation was cut by 80 million KRW (61.53%) from the original 130 million KRW.

For these events, which had partial budget cuts this year, during the preliminary and comprehensive review process, concerns were raised about the formal written review rather than face-to-face review based on the ‘Ordinance on the Formation and Operation of the Hanam City Cultural Event Review and Evaluation Committee,’ as well as omissions in the review process. Additionally, opinions were expressed emphasizing the need for careful consideration in selecting busking performance locations that can contribute to revitalizing commercial districts.

Members of the Hanam City Council stated, "One of the greatest powers of local councils, which serve as watchdogs and checks on local governments, is the authority to review and approve budgets," adding, "The 2025 budget proposal was agreed upon after sufficient discussion and debate during the preliminary review by each standing committee and the comprehensive review by the Budget and Accounts Special Committee. Our committee members carefully reviewed the budget to ensure that not a single won is wasted and that funds are used where citizens truly need them."

They further emphasized, "Above all, based on rational and systematic criteria such as urgency and necessity, we strictly reviewed the budget to prevent waste on projects with unclear expected effects or overlapping and redundant projects," and stated, "While not sparing necessary investments to address pressing livelihood, economic, and social issues, we focused on efficient budget review by boldly reducing habitual and inefficient projects."

Meanwhile, the 2025 budget proposal submitted by Hanam City was finalized at the 3rd plenary session of the 2nd regular meeting of the 336th session on the 19th of last month after preliminary reviews by each standing committee and review by the Budget and Accounts Special Committee.

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