Oh Se-hoon: "Daejang-dong development is very strange and unimaginable... a project we must not learn from"… joins in targeting Lee Jae-myung

Attendance at the National Assembly Public Administration Committee Audit on the 19th... Separate Panel Prepared for Daejang-dong Related Issues with Strong Criticism
Mayor Oh Claims, "Seoul City Will Never Design It to Be Taken by the Private Sector"
Ruling and Opposition Parties' Heated Dispute, Morning Audit Ultimately Disrupted

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon argued that various suspicions surrounding the Daejang-dong development are "not a public-private cooperation or joint effort based on the idea that the public sector takes on risks while the private sector makes money," and insisted that it is a case that other local governments should never learn from.

Mayor Oh made this statement on the 19th during the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee's audit of Seoul City at Seoul City Hall. He pointed out, "Urban development projects that assume sequential private sector involvement, like the cases of Daejang-dong or Baekhyeon-dong, are very unusual and unimaginable for Seoul City," adding, "The biggest risk is that the permit process is not easy, but the public sector intervened and resolved everything. Seoul City never designs projects so that the private sector takes the profits."

He then criticized it as a case that other local governments should not benchmark. Mayor Oh responded, "If local governments undertake projects of this kind, urban development projects will be shaken to their roots," and emphasized, "Other local governments must never learn from this."

Following this, Mayor Oh presented pre-prepared materials as if determined. Holding a panel titled 'The Truth about the Large Financial Institutions-Centered Public Offering Directive in the Daejang-dong Urban Development Project,' he explained, "Banks are legally prohibited from acquiring real estate, but the Daejang-dong public offering was structured to include banks and exclude construction companies," adding, "From the project structure itself, some private parties were expected to make a lot of money."

Using the Global Business Center (GBC) in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul as an example, he refuted Governor Lee Jae-myung's self-praise of the Daejang-dong development project as the 'largest public interest recovery project since Dangun.' Mayor Oh claimed, "The GBC recovered 1.7 trillion won, so the claim that Daejang-dong recovered the most is groundless."

Immediately after Mayor Oh's response, fierce exchanges erupted between ruling and opposition party lawmakers. The ruling party raised their voices, saying they could not understand why the Seoul mayor was explaining the Daejang-dong issue, which is a Gyeonggi-do matter, even creating drawings, while People Power Party lawmakers such as Kim Do-eup supported Mayor Oh, saying it was an explanation he could provide.

The morning audit session flowed as an extension of the Gyeonggi-do audit, intensifying confrontations between ruling and opposition lawmakers, leading to a disruption when all Democratic Party lawmakers walked out during the audit, resulting in a recess after 90 minutes.