Seoul Metropolitan Council Passes Ordinances for Disabled Public Jobs and TBS Support Urged

An ordinance aimed at reviving rights-centered public jobs for people with disabilities has been passed by the Seoul Metropolitan Council.

During the plenary session of the 339th extraordinary meeting held this afternoon (the 11th), the Seoul Metropolitan Council passed the partial amendment to the Ordinance on Promoting Employment and Vocational Rehabilitation for Persons with Disabilities in Seoul, with 69 votes in favor, 37 against, and 2 abstentions out of 108 members present.

Rights-centered public jobs are programs that provide employment in areas such as rights advocacy, culture and arts, and awareness improvement for individuals with disabilities who have been marginalized in the labor market.

The program, which had been operated since 2020, was abolished in 2024 following criticism that more than half of its duties involved campaigns such as rallies and demonstrations.

Subsequently, the Democratic Party, which holds a majority in the city council, pursued the revival of rights-centered public jobs as a party platform, ultimately leading to the passage of the agenda today.

Another ordinance promoted as a party platform by the Democratic Party in the council, the partial amendment to the Ordinance on Promoting Mobility Convenience for Transportation Vulnerables in Seoul, was also passed.

Key provisions include changing the term mobility convenience to mobility rights to clarify its rights-based nature and specifying that all Seoul buses should be operated as low-floor buses.

A resolution urging the normalization of TBS, also promoted by the Democratic Party in the council, cleared the threshold of the plenary session.

The resolution urges the Seoul Metropolitan Government to consult with the city council on a normalization roadmap, including redesignating TBS as an affiliated institution, enacting support ordinances, and establishing financial support measures, while preparing steps to guarantee the survival rights and employment stability of TBS employees who have gone unpaid for a long period.

TBS has faced difficulties after a controversy over alleged political bias in its former flagship program, Kim Ou-jun's News Factory, led to the passage of an ordinance abolishing Seoul support, spearheaded by the People Power Party which held a majority in the 11th city council.

With the abolition ordinance taking effect in June 2024 and TBS losing its status as an affiliated institution of Seoul in September of that year, the legal basis for the Seoul Metropolitan Government to support TBS has completely disappeared.

Since then, the Democratic Party, holding a majority in the 12th city council, has demanded the restoration of TBS's status as an affiliated institution of Seoul and held a related press conference prior to the plenary session today.

At the conference, Democratic Party lawmaker Park Joo-min stated, "The Ministry of the Interior and Safety has also expressed its position to swiftly proceed with the redesignation procedures for affiliation," adding, "I hope Mayor Oh Se-hoon will not just say he agrees with the normalization of TBS, but take concrete steps."

Kim Young-bae, head of the Democratic Party's Seoul Metropolitan City Party, stated, "We plan to propose holding a ruling party-government consultation meeting with the Democratic Party's Seoul City Party to Mayor Oh Se-hoon, encompassing issues such as housing supply and the normalization of TBS."

In Seoul's 2nd supplementary budget bill, 5.625 billion won allocated for Mayor Oh Se-hoon's key initiative, the Youth AI Growth Voucher Support Project, was cut in full.

This project aims to provide generative AI access vouchers to 500,000 young people.

However, members of the city council's Urban Planning and Balanced Development Committee cut the budget, citing issues such as the lack of finalized details regarding the support scope, recipient selection methods, and service delivery methods.

The budget was not reinstated through the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts and was submitted to the plenary session as it was.

This supplementary budget bill was passed with 63 votes in favor, 37 against, and 1 abstention out of 101 members present.

Additionally, amid a strike announced by the Seoul Metropolitan Bus Labor Union for the 16th, a resolution urging Seoul's mediation and resolution to protect citizens' mobility rights also passed the plenary session.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.