Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Says 'Almost Nothing Goes as Planned' Due to Opposition-Controlled City Council

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has expressed frustration over his relationship with the Seoul Metropolitan Council, where the main opposition Democratic Party holds a majority, stating, "When the opposition holds the majority, it is truly difficult to get things done. Almost nothing goes according to plan."

Following the local elections held last June, the Seoul Metropolitan Council is composed of 118 total seats, with the Democratic Party holding 80 seats and Mayor Oh's ruling People Power Party holding 38 seats.

Speaking in his opening remarks at an open talk event for the "Youth AI Growth Voucher Support Pilot Project" held at Seoul City Hall, Mayor Oh said, "In the city council, council members from the same party as me account for less than one-third of the total," making the remark.

He described the difficulties of pushing forward city administration in an opposition-dominated environment, saying, "If the city council says no, we cannot do it. Even if we ask them to reconsider, there is no way out if we are rejected."

He added, "Having about one-third of the seats is manageable to a certain extent, but when you fall short of that, you have no choice but to be dragged along. This is a working environment that average citizens might overlook."

Mayor Oh's remarks were made with the "Youth Artificial Intelligence (AI) Growth Voucher Support Project"—whose budget was completely cut by the city council last month—in mind.

The project aims to provide generative AI access vouchers to 500,000 young people. The Seoul Metropolitan Government allocated 5.625 billion KRW in this year's extra supplementary budget proposal, but the budget was entirely cut during the city council plenary session on October 11.

At the time, the Democratic Party stated that while it agreed with the purpose of the project, detailed plans such as the target recipients and service methods were inadequate, and that it needed to be supplemented during the review of the regular budget.

Mayor Oh expressed strong regret over the city council's cut to the supplementary budget.

"It is truly regrettable that things are not going as planned," Oh said, adding that he is making efforts to persuade the city council by making known how necessary and desperate the project is for young people.

He also revealed that negotiations regarding generative AI subscription fees are facing difficulties.

"Last time, during price negotiations with OpenAI and Gemini, we were so proud to bring the price down to 2.5 dollars per person, which was lower than what we had imagined," Oh said with regret. "However, because the supplementary budget failed to pass, we could not keep our word, and those companies have now given feedback that they cannot provide it at that price."

He further noted, "Our department is working hard to negotiate, persuade, and keep knocking on doors, but discussions are not proceeding smoothly in the direction we want. To be honest, I cannot make a confident promise here today that I will be able to let you use AI."

He emphasized, "Normally, when a budget passes at the end of the year, it takes time to prepare for execution, pushing things over to March or May. But because we tried to include this work in this year's supplementary budget, all preparations are complete. If only the budget passes, we are ready to execute it right starting in January."

The Seoul Metropolitan Council will hold its 340th regular session for 52 days from November 2 to December 23, during which it will conduct administrative audits, question the city administration, and review the Seoul metropolitan budget proposal for 2027.

Mayor Oh's key initiatives, such as the youth AI support project and the nocturnal economy revitalization project, are expected to come under budget review once again.

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