Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Criticizes Democratic Party's Full Cut to Youth AI Budget as "Tyranny of the Majority"

▲ Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has criticized the Seoul Metropolitan Council's decision to completely cut the 5.625 billion won budget for the city's "Youth AI Growth Voucher Support Project," calling it a "clear tyranny of the majority council."

The project aims to provide generative AI access passes to 500,000 young people.

Mayor Oh posted on social media under the title "Is there a ruling and opposition party in youth policy?", stating, "I feel a deep sense of despair seeing the budget carefully prepared by the Seoul city government to lay a new ladder of opportunity for young people being ruthlessly and entirely cut by the Democratic Party."

Mayor Oh pointed out, "I cannot help but ask the Democratic Party council members whether a project that the Seoul Metropolitan Government spent months focusing its capabilities to prepare, and which young people had high expectations for, had problems significant enough to warrant every single won of the 5.6 billion won budget being slashed without a trace." He added, "They did not provide specific alternatives on what needs to be improved, and Seoul's earnest plea to at least allow a pilot project for just two months this year went unheard."

He continued, "The 'Youth AI Ladder' is a project that must be launched as soon as possible to prevent gaps in AI literacy from solidifying into gaps in new opportunities, and further, class divides," noting that "at a time when technology evolves day by day, this budget cut has not merely delayed the start of the project, but robbed young people of the time of opportunity they need to grasp."

He further criticized, "Did not the Democratic Party council members themselves rush to make similar pledges in the past elections because they agreed on the necessity of an AI support project for youth? Branding a policy as a shoddy project without evidence or clearly stating significant flaws and cutting it all down is, no matter how one looks at it, a clear tyranny of the majority council."

Mayor Oh expressed deep concern, saying, "Furthermore, seeing the Democratic Party-dominated city council swiftly process an ordinance containing the demands of the Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination while completely cutting the budget investing in the future of youth, I cannot help but feel deep worry." He added, "I cannot just stand by and watch precious budgets for citizens being butchered once again by political interests and degraded into handouts for specific organizations."

He added, "Stalling the budget cannot stall the future of Seoul. I will not give up," and vowed, "A hundred times over, I will rise again, gather the will of the citizens, and persuade the city council to open up Seoul's tomorrow."

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