Gwangju Nam-gu Accused of Steering "Free Circulator Shuttle Bus" Work to Firm Linked to District Mayor's Aide

48 Million Won Woman-Owned Private Contract with Company A
Lacking Capacity, Company A Subcontracted the Work to Company B
Project Pushed Ahead Despite Criticism Over Route Duplication and Use of Official Buses
Company B: "We Have a Cooperative Relationship with Former Nam-gu Aide's C Travel Agency"
Nam-gu: "The Contract Was Urgent, So We Used a Negotiated Private Contract Instead of Bidding"

The side of the free shuttle bus that Nam-gu, Gwangju operated in November-December last year bears the number of C Travel Agency, whose representative is former aide Park Mo. Provided by Nam-gu, Gwangju.

Controversy over favoritism has arisen after it was revealed that the "free circulator shuttle bus" project, which Nam-gu District in Gwangju implemented under the pretext of improving convenience for transportation-vulnerable residents, funneled work to a company that has a cooperative relationship with a close associate of the district mayor. Critics say that this populist policy, pushed through despite criticism over overlapping routes, was reduced to a work-allocation scheme worth tens of millions of won, undermining trust in the district administration.

According to Nam-gu, Gwangju on the 23rd, the district ran the Daechon-dong free circulator shuttle bus project for two months from November to December last year, spending a budget of a little over 48 million won (KRW 48,000,000).

The buses operated on a route connecting the rural area of Daechon-dong with Hyochon-dong, Bongseon-dong, and the Nam-gu District Office, with two buses making 11 trips a day each, for a total of 374 runs.

Nam-gu initially planned to introduce the free shuttle buses due to the suspension or closure of Route 715, but at the time Route 715 was still in service, prompting criticism of route duplication and sloppy administration.

Furthermore, for the free circulator shuttle bus project, Nam-gu signed a negotiated private contract with Company A, a woman-owned business. However, it was found that this company did not have the capacity to carry out the work, including a shortage of 25-seat buses, and therefore subcontracted the work to Company B.

The issue is that Company B has a cooperative relationship with C Travel Agency, located in Nam-gu, Gwangju, and the representative of C Travel Agency is former aide Park Mo, a close associate of Nam-gu District Mayor Kim Byoungnae.

Former aide Park served as public relations planning aide from September 2024 until April last year. This aide position is a specialized term-limited post for which the district mayor can make a special appointment without a separate public recruitment notice.

This has raised suspicions that Nam-gu used woman-owned Company A as a pretext to steer work toward certain companies. While general negotiated private contracts are allowed up to 20 million won, negotiated private contracts with women-owned companies are allowed up to 50 million won.

In fact, the free circulator shuttle bus operated by Company B ran for two months with C Travel Agency's phone number attached to its side. Company B and C Travel Agency have collaborated within the local area for several years.

A representative of Company A said, "Most travel companies cooperate with each other, for example by renting buses when they are short," and added, "We have shared the same office and collaborated with Company B for three years, and since our company did not have buses, we asked them for help. I do not know exactly how the contract was executed."

A representative of Company B said, "Company A simply asked us to take on the project at the time because they did not have buses," and added, "We have had a cooperative relationship with C Travel Agency for years, and we put C Travel Agency taping on some buses for advertising and other purposes, without any financial relationship."

Amid these circumstances, Nam-gu this year again allocated slightly over 257 million won (KRW 257,000,000) for nine months to continue the free circulator shuttle bus service through an entrusted operator. However, after the district council pointed out that official government vehicles should be used, 144.25 million won (KRW 144,250,000) in leasing service costs was cut. Nam-gu has since resumed the free circulator shuttle bus service using official government buses.

In relation to this, Nam-gu maintains that, because the project was pushed forward in a hurry, it used a negotiated private contract and that there is no problem, since the statement of work allowed for buses to be rented from other companies.

An official from Nam-gu said, "We understand that because Company A did not have 25-seat buses, Company B carried out the project instead. The statement of work allowed for rentals, and at the time of contracting, the district office could not ascertain in detail whether Company A had the capacity to perform the work," and added, "The contract had to be concluded urgently at the time, so we could not put it out for competitive bidding, and since there are not many women-owned tour bus companies, we ended up signing a negotiated private contract with that company."