Seoul Guro-gu Mayor Moon Heon-il Resigns from Office on the Afternoon of the 16th

Lawsuit Defeat Related to Blank Trust of Shares in Moon Engineering Founded and Operated by Himself for Decades

Moon Heon-il, the mayor of Guro District in Seoul, will step down from his position on the afternoon of the 16th.

A key official from Guro District said in a phone call with our reporter on the afternoon of the 15th, "Since he personally founded and has long operated the company (Moon Engineering) with about 400 employees, he plans to resign on the 16th instead of placing his shares in a blind trust."

Mayor Moon, originally from Dangjin, Chungnam, moved to Seoul and has lived in Guro District for decades. He served as the president of the Chungcheong Association and ran for mayor in Guro, a stronghold of the People Power Party, winning the election as the 8th-term mayor.

In particular, Mayor Moon is an entrepreneur who founded Moon Engineering and grew it into a financially sound company without debt.

In March of last year, the Stock Blind Trust Review Committee decided that the shares of Moon Engineering held by Mayor Moon conflicted with his public duties and ordered him to place the shares in a blind trust.

Moon Engineering, founded and operated by Mayor Moon, is a system integration (SI) company known for exporting Korean technology to Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe. He holds 48,000 shares, valued at approximately 17 billion KRW. Mayor Moon filed a lawsuit against this decision but lost in both the first and second trials.

Upon Mayor Moon's resignation, Deputy Mayor Eom Ui-sik will serve as acting mayor and lead the district administration. Deputy Mayor Eom previously served as the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Environment and Energy Planning Officer, then as Deputy Mayor of Gwangjin District, and was appointed as the first Deputy Mayor of Guro District in the 8th term, working alongside Mayor Moon in managing the district.

Meanwhile, since taking office, Mayor Moon has demonstrated achievements such as communicating with staff and residents and achieving the highest level of integrity rating (Grade 1) nationwide among local governments in 2023, according to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission.