12th Seoul Metropolitan Council Opens with Democratic Party Majority; Leadership to be Elected

The 12th Seoul Metropolitan Council opens today, July 7.
The council will hold its first extraordinary session this afternoon to elect a chairperson and two vice-chairpersons, followed by an opening ceremony.
The term for members of the 12th Seoul Metropolitan Council is four years, beginning on July 1.
In terms of seat distribution by party, the Democratic Party of Korea secured 80 out of the total 118 seats, giving it enough votes to independently override mayoral vetoes on ordinances. The People Power Party holds the remaining 38 seats.
As a result, a tense relationship is expected between the city government, led by Mayor Oh Se-hoon of the People Power Party, and the city council.
Lim Man-gyun (Gwanak 3), a three-term city council member from the Democratic Party, has been nominated as the chairperson for the first half of the 12th council.
Lim graduated from Hannam University with a degree in urban and regional planning and worked as a certified labor attorney. He has been elected as a city council member for three consecutive terms, starting with the 2018 local elections through the June 3 local elections this year.
During the 11th council, he served as the chair of the Environment and Water Resources Committee. In April of this year, he led the rejection of a Seoul Metropolitan Government motion to amend a business agreement intended to provide funding for improving pier accessibility to the operator of the Hangang Bus.
Consequently, there are expectations that the city council's oversight of Mayor Oh's key projects, such as the Hangang Bus, will intensify.
Seong Heum-je (Eunpyeong 1) of the Democratic Party and Lee Seong-bae (Songpa 4) of the People Power Party have been selected as candidates for vice-chairpersons.
Both have also been elected to the city council for three consecutive terms since 2018.
Seong holds a master's degree in urban planning from the Yonsei University Graduate School of Engineering and has served as an expert committee member for the Presidential Committee for Balanced National Development and as a non-standing spokesperson for the Democratic Party.
Lee completed a doctoral program in public administration at the University of Seoul Graduate School and has served on most of the council's committees, including the Housing and Space Committee, the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, the Health and Welfare Committee, and the Planning and Economy Committee.
(Photo: Provided by Seoul Metropolitan Council, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.