Bok Ah-yeong, Cheonan City Council Member: "Over 200 Million Won Budget Executed with MOU Only... No Settlement Done"

Cheonan City in Chungnam Province is facing controversy for executing a budget based on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that has no legal effect.

At the 6th plenary session of the 268th extraordinary meeting held on the 3rd, Cheonan City Council member Bok Ah-young pointed out the MOU signed by Cheonan City in 2022 regarding the construction of Seongseong Art Center.

On September 29, 2022, the city signed an MOU with the Korea Federation of Artistic and Cultural Organizations and BJ Global Co., Ltd. to create a cultural and artistic complex facility (Art Center) near Seongseong Lake Park.

The MOU specifies that a working-level consultative body would be formed by October of the same year to decide on detailed matters and proceed accordingly.

The city held one meeting through the working-level consultative body, and thereafter, all matters were discussed verbally while providing a budget of 289 million KRW to the Korea Federation of Artistic and Cultural Organizations for events such as the "Korea Photo Festival," "100 Years of Korean Cinema," and "Taekwon V Summons the Past."

Council member Bok raised concerns about the budget execution based on an MOU that has no legal binding force.

He stated, "According to the ordinance on the operation of resolutions concerning Cheonan City's obligations or waiver of rights, an MOU purely includes mutual efforts obligations," adding, "After signing the MOU, a working-level consultative body should have been formed to decide on financial support methods and details, but the city reflected a budget of 300 million KRW based on a single MOU page that has no legal binding force."

He also added, "This year, a budget of over 200 million KRW was submitted in the main budget but was cut by the council."

Additionally, he pointed out the failure to submit a settlement report for the project.

Bok said, "It is stipulated that the settlement must be processed within two months after the project ends for subsidy settlement," but criticized, "However, the Korea Photo Festival, which ended last November, has still not completed the subsidy settlement process."

In response, Mayor Park Sang-don said, "Cheonan is a city with almost no cultural and artistic infrastructure," and added, "We just want to make the area around Upseong Reservoir a cultural and artistic 'hot place,' so please do not view this as if there is some corruption behind it."