▲ Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon
Controversy has emerged over allegations of perjury regarding Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's remarks during a parliamentary audit concerning the Hangang River bus rebate suspicions.
In response to allegations of perjury raised by some lawmakers of the Democratic Party of Korea, the Seoul Metropolitan Government countered, "The claims disregard the overall intent and factual context of Mayor Oh's remarks."
Through a statement, the city government stated that it is unreasonable to take a portion of Mayor Oh's remarks from the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee audit on October 15 out of context and claim it constitutes perjury.
Regarding the allegation of perjury concerning the decision-making process for requesting a public audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection over the Hangang River bus, the city explained that the remarks at the time described the normal decision-making process.
Previously, Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Young-bae raised suspicions of perjury, pointing out that although Mayor Oh decided to request the public audit from the Board of Audit and Inspection, he explained during the parliamentary audit that it was decided by working-level officials.
In response, the city explained that Mayor Oh had instructed officials to review necessary measures, such as requesting an audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection or requesting an investigation into suspicions surrounding the Hangang River bus.
The city added that after discussions among working-level staff and political advisors, opinions converged on prioritizing a request for a public audit from the Board of Audit and Inspection, which Mayor Oh received reports on and approved through his chief of staff.
The city emphasized that explaining "staff discussed and decided" during the Public Administration and Security Committee audit described the working-level review process, while stating "I received a report from the chief of staff and approved it" during the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee audit described the mayor's final decision-making process.
The city also denied allegations of perjury related to the allocation of budget for the Hangang River bus.
Democratic Party lawmaker Lim Ho-sun raised suspicions that Mayor Oh committed perjury by answering that the Seoul city budget is not injected into the Hangang River bus project.
Regarding this, the Seoul Metropolitan Government stated that Mayor Oh's remarks at the time were meant to explain that individual management matters of the Hangang River bus operating company are not directly reported to the mayor and that there was no direct budget execution.
The city explained that this did not deny the fact that Seoul city budget is injected into public infrastructure such as dock construction, nor did it deny support for covering operational losses.
In addition, the city refuted claims of perjury distorting facts regarding the downscaling of marathon event sponsorships.
Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Sang-shik raised suspicions of perjury, claiming that Mayor Oh stated the number of marathon events decreased even though the number of hosted events increased compared to last year.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government explained that Mayor Oh clearly stated the intention during the parliamentary audit that "marathon events sponsored by the Seoul Metropolitan Government have decreased."
The city stated that marathon events sponsored by the city decreased by 8, dropping from 15 last year to 7 this year.
It also added that marathon events sponsored by the central government increased from 1 to 21 over the same period.
(Photo provided by Seoul Metropolitan Government, Yonhap News)
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