Park Won-soon’s 9 Years of Seoul “Gave ₩700 billion (~$600 million) to Leftist Civic Groups, Nurtured 2 Million Votes… Seoul Grew ‘Left-wing Voters'”

2021-4-21, NewDaily [TRANSLATION]

[Editor’s Note] As a result of the April 7, 2021 Seoul Mayor’s By-election, the new Mayor of Seoul, Oh Se-hoon of the People Power Party, is in charge of municipal administration. The late Mayor Park Won-soon served as mayor for about 9 years from October 2011 to July 2020, leaving no particular achievements. On the other hand, a large number of people from left-wing civic groups entered the city as public officials, and mass-produced government organizations such as social cooperatives.  The number of “Park Won-soon manpower” fostered in this way is 300,000, and combined with their family members, the opposition party argues that as many as 2 million votes can be mobilized in the election.  Former Mayor Park, especially in the name of urban regeneration, severely restricted the supply of new housing, including markedly limiting redevelopment and reconstruction, resulting in a surge in housing prices over the past few years. In order to provide a mirror to “Seoul of Oh Se-hoon,” this newspaper publishes a series of planning articles looking back at the Seoul city government during his tenure as Mayor Park.

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During the tenure of former Mayor of Seoul, Park Won-soon, there were constant criticisms that the city of Seoul ran a lavish support project for civic groups. In particular, as it became known that a total of ₩711.1 billion ($630 million,at ₩1,130:$1) in public offerings were provided to [leftist] civic groups over the past five years, it is pointed out that citizen blood was wasted on feeding left-wing civic groups.

According to the data on the “Status of Seoul Private Subsidiary Public Offering Projects for the Last Five Years;” analyzed by National Assemblyman Park Sung-joong (박성중) of People Power Party in February 2021, the public offering projects for civic groups in Seoul increased by 3.6 times from ₩64.1 billion ($56.7 million) in 2016 to ₩235.3 billion ($228.4 million) last year. The total budget supported for five years amounted to ₩711.1 billion ($630 million). The number of civic organizations that applied during the same period increased by 2.3 times from 1,433 to 3,339.

“Seoul Innovation Park” turned into a playground for civic groups

The “Seoul Innovation Park” is considered one of Park’s representative civic groups support projects.  In 2015, the city of Seoul built the 109,729 square meter Seoul Innovation Park in the name of “making it a base to solve social problems by attracting and supporting various innovative organizations and invigorating the local economy in the northwest region” on the site of the former Center for Disease Control in Nokbeon-dong, Eunpyeong-gu.  About 220 civic groups and 1,200 activists moved in here with the support of Mayor Park.

However, as the core sites and buildings in downtown Seoul were used only for rental by civic groups, complaints from citizens raged. The reason is that although it received low rent from civic groups and used an annual operating cost of ₩7.6 billion ($6.7 million) last year, they [civic groups] were not useful to citizens.

The site of “Seoul Innovation Park” is counted as one of the few places in Eunpyeong-gu where large-scale commercial facilities can be built. After Mayor Park’s death, Eunpyeong-gu residents gathered at an internet cafe and commented, “the place we dreamt would be a landmark of northwestern Seoul became a playground for some civic groups after Park gained power as the mayor…” 

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Source:  http://www.newdaily.co.kr/site/data/html/2021/04/21/2021042100203.html