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| Kim In-ho, chairperson of Seoul Metropolitan Council, bangs the gavel during a plenary session, Dec. 22. Newsis |
By Lee Hae-rin
Seoul City Hall is strongly protesting Seoul Metropolitan Council's recent passage of a revision bill restricting the mayor's right to speak during council sessions, saying it targets Mayor Oh Se-hoon and is an act of "violence" by the council, destroying checks and balances between the local administration and the legislative body.
The protest is the latest conflict between the Seoul Metropolitan Government, led by Oh from the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) who took office in April through a by-election, and the Seoul Metropolitan Council which is dominated by members from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).
According to the revised ordinance passed by the council, Dec. 31, effective from Jan. 13, public servants, including the mayor and superintendent of the regional education office, need permission from the chairperson or heads of standing committees in order to speak. If they speak without permission, the chairperson or the committee heads can stop the speech or order them to leave the room. Also, they need to apologize to the council on the order by the chairperson or committee heads to rejoin the sessions.
The ordinance followed an incident last September in which Oh left a plenary session in protest of the councilors' questions. At the time, councilor Lee Kyung-sun criticized Oh for mentioning private government information on his personal YouTube channel. Oh asked for time to speak in his defense but the councilors did not permit it, and then he left the room saying it was "unfair."
In an official statement issued by Oh's spokesman Lee Chang-keun, Sunday, the city government said the ordinance deprives the mayor of his right to discussion, saying it is "an act of violence committed by the council, by taking advantage of the DPK's majority position, to disrupt the checks and balances between the local government and the local council."
"A mayor is a rightful entity elected by citizens in a representative democracy," the statement said. "The council denies such fact and restricts the mayor's rights, thereby infringing on citizens' authority."
In response, the city council countered the criticism, explaining that the bill aims to establish order. "The ordinance was revised to make proceedings smooth and encourage related civil servants to respect the council," it said in an official statement, Sunday.
Clashes between the city government and the council have escalated since Oh's inauguration in April, as 99 out of the council's 110 seats are taken by DPK members.
The two sides engaged in heated debate over the city government's budget bill for 2022. Passing the bill last Friday, the council drastically cut the budgets earmarked by the city government for Oh's new projects, while allocating more money for projects which had been initiated by Oh's predecessor Park Won-soon that Oh had planned to scale back.
