The Seoul Metropolitan Government has decided to launch an audit into allegations surrounding the business trip of former Seongdong District Mayor Jung Won-oh to the Mexican resort city of Cancun.

According to Seoul City on Friday (June 26), the city's Citizen Audit Ombudsman Committee held its third audit request review meeting the previous day and approved the motion to initiate a resident audit regarding the former mayor's 2023 official overseas trip.

Previously, 300 Seongdong District residents filed a request in April, demanding an investigation into the background of the former mayor's trip with a subordinate official, as well as the circumstances behind why the official's gender was recorded incorrectly in official documents.

The resident audit request is a system that allows residents to directly request an audit through a joint signature of a certain number of people when the administrative affairs of a local government or its head are suspected of violating laws or harming the public interest.

Once the eligibility requirements are met, the city must complete the audit and announce the results within 60 days from the date the request is accepted.

However, as both the former mayor and the official in question have retired, internal disciplinary action based on the audit results is not expected to be possible.

Previously, People Power Party lawmaker Kim Jae-seop raised suspicions that the trip was irregular, stating that the former mayor traveled to Cancun, Mexico, with a female official in 2023, and that the official's gender was recorded as male in the official overseas travel review document.

The former mayor's side explained that Cancun was merely chosen as a stopover during an official business trip to attend an international participatory democracy forum, and that the incorrect gender entry was a simple clerical error.

(Photo: Yonhap News)