"Subsidies Are Petty Cash?" Nonsan Council Member Seo Won Says 1.36 Billion Won Horticulture Project Must Be Referred for Investigation

Referring to special audit and police investigation, claims "eight months of warnings were ignored"

Seo Won of the Nonsan City Council urged in a five-minute speech at a special session held on the 23rd that the audit findings on the "2024 Horticulture and Special Crops Regional Customization" project be reported to investigative authorities.

On February 23, Seo Won, a member of the Nonsan City Council in South Chungcheong Province, raised allegations of violations of administrative procedures surrounding the "2024 Horticulture and Specialty Crops Regional Customized Project" during a five-minute speech at an extraordinary session of the council, calling for the audit findings to be formally referred to investigative authorities and for those responsible to be held accountable.

Seo referred to a recent special audit conducted by Nonsan City's Audit Office and to the status of the ongoing police investigation, stressing that "it is becoming clear that the issues raised so far were not baseless claims."

He went on to assert that "for about eight months before the project was executed, I warned that there was a risk of illegality, but these warnings were not accepted."

According to Seo, the project was implemented with a total budget of 1.36 billion won. Citing the audit findings, he explained that failures had been identified in several areas, including the failure to carry out the required open call and deliberation procedures, changes to the project without approval, insufficient verification of self-funding, and poor management of settlement and accounting. He argued that "it is difficult to regard this as a simple administrative mistake."

In particular, in relation to how the budget was secured, he referred to a statement made in a media interview by a member of the South Chungcheong Provincial Council, who said that "budget execution is at the autonomous discretion of the city." Seo countered that "the materials we have obtained include documents that contain the name of a specific project organization, the amount, and confirmation signatures," and insisted that "a clear explanation is needed regarding the budget allocation process."

Regarding the view that the issues raised by himself and fellow council members were intended to "eliminate political rivals," he responded, "Our questions were directed not at a particular individual, but at the procedures and records," adding, "The fact that we issued warnings before, rather than after, execution was for preventive purposes."

On media coverage, he said, "There were reports that, focusing on one-sided explanations, characterized our raising of issues as being for 'political purposes' and the like," and added, "Now that the audit findings have been made public, the facts need to be re-examined."

Seo stated, "Subsidies are not politicians' petty cash but taxpayers' money," and called for the official referral of the audit findings to investigative authorities, disciplinary and personnel measures against those involved based on the investigation results, and the institutionalization of principles for open calls for subsidized projects and for their registration in an electronic system.

He emphasized, "The role of a city council member is not popularity management, but oversight and checks," adding that "politics that privatize citizens' authority must be eliminated from the local community."