Daegu Citizens' Coalition Reports to City Council
Hopes to Overcome Reputation as a Rubber Stamp
The Daegu Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice Legislative Watch Group announced on October 21 that, in active response to the Daegu City Council’s call for citizen reports during its administrative audit from September 22 to October 21, it had submitted 14 issues-including the investigation and accountability for “parachute” hiring corruption-as proposed topics for the 2025 administrative audit.
The Daegu Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice Legislative Watch Group previously submitted 14 topics for the 2023 administrative audit, including the “nation’s only civil servant golf tournament,” and 10 topics for the 2024 audit, such as the “refusal and obstruction of coverage of Daegu MBC.”
The 2025 administrative audit topics submitted by the Daegu Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice Legislative Watch Group to the Daegu City Council include: parachute hiring corruption; the controversy over former Daegu Mayor Hong Joonpyo’s business trip to the United States and the use of official residences by his close associates after their dismissal; the non-disclosure of information regarding the civil servant golf tournament that led to damages claims; the failure to hold policy debates requested by citizens, such as the Seomun Market Station extension project on Metro Line 3; the undermining of the policy debate request system through non-disclosure of information; administrative mismanagement revealed during the installation and maintenance of the statue of former President Park Chunghee; the controversy over the Suseong Lake floating performance stage; distortion of municipal achievements such as Daegu Innovation 100+1-legacies left by former Mayor Hong Joonpyo; media promotion budgets; illegal approval of underground shopping mall store name changes in Banwoldang and other locations; controversy over the selection of organizations and employment succession in the cultural heritage care project; unfair dismissals and other personnel administration issues at the Daegu Happiness Promotion Social Service Center; and the state of private contracts and information disclosure at institutions under Daegu City. These are issues the coalition has raised over the past year.
Among the administrative audit topics submitted by the Daegu Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice Legislative Watch Group, the issue of media promotion budgets was also raised in 2023 and 2024 as an audit topic.
Each year, the Daegu Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice Legislative Watch Group has recommended that the Daegu City Council examine the execution details of media promotion budgets and develop measures to enhance the fairness and transparency of these budgets, in order to clarify the facts and accountability regarding media control through promotion expenses by former Mayor Hong Joonpyo and Daegu City, and to prevent recurrence. However, the Daegu City Council has only introduced the response from the city’s public relations office, stating that “Daegu City executes media promotion budgets considering media influence and promotional effectiveness,” and has repeatedly notified that it “urges fair execution of media promotion budgets.”
For 2025, the Daegu Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice Legislative Watch Group presented the results of media promotion budget execution from 2022 to 2025 as grounds for the administrative audit.
The Suseong Lake floating performance stage project, submitted as an administrative audit topic by the Daegu Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice Legislative Watch Group, is being pursued by Suseong District. Nevertheless, the coalition reported it to the Daegu City Council for the administrative audit because it is one of the Daegu Innovation 100+1 projects and involves Daegu City’s budget. More importantly, the project entails altering the status of Suseong Amusement Park-a facility managed by Daegu City-in the process of constructing the floating stage.
The administrative audit authority of local councils is the most powerful oversight and check on executive bodies. Just as the National Assembly’s audit is called the “highlight of a lawmaker’s activities,” the administrative audit by local councils should also be considered the “highlight of a local council member’s activities.” However, unlike the National Assembly audit, which draws national attention and the full engagement of political parties and lawmakers, public interest in the administrative audit of local councils is very low, and both local councils and council members tend to be passive. Expectations for local council administrative audits are not high. While this is largely due to external factors such as differences in status and authority between the National Assembly and local councils, it is also a result of local councils and council members failing to fully exercise even the powers granted to them by law.
The Daegu Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice stated, “The 2025 administrative audit will be the final audit of the 9th Daegu City Council. It will also be the first administrative audit without former Mayor Hong Joonpyo, who wielded unchecked power over Daegu City. We hope this final audit will be an opportunity for the 9th Daegu City Council to shed its reputation as a mere rubber stamp for the executive branch throughout Hong Joonpyo’s term. We look forward to the administrative audit becoming the true ‘highlight’ of local council members’ activities.”
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