The Seoul Metropolitan Council, reshaped for the first time in four years into a body where the opposition holds the majority, took aim at Mayor Oh Se-hoon's signature policies from its very first session of policy questioning. Democratic Party members pressed the city government to act on reviving TBS and attacked its review of a reservation system and higher weekend fares for the Han River bus service as an admission of failure as public transit. Oh pushed back, citing the need to secure political neutrality and improve operating efficiency.
Six lawmakers — four from the Democratic Party and two from the People Power Party — took the floor at the 339th extraordinary session held at the council on the 27th. It was the first policy questioning since the launch of the 9th elected Seoul city government and the 12th council. With the Democratic Party winning 80 of the 118 total seats in the June 3 local elections, handing the opposition a majority for the first time in four years, the exchanges over Oh's key policies were fierce from day one.
The revival of TBS came up first. Democratic Party lawmaker Park Yu-jin said the roughly 160 people at TBS have gone without pay for two years, calling it a dire situation, and demanded that the city government begin procedures to redesignate the broadcaster as an invested or funded institution. TBS has been cut off from city budget support since June 2024 following the repeal of the ordinance authorizing its funding, and has also lost its status as a city-funded institution. All 80 Democratic Party members of the council recently introduced a resolution pressing for the broadcaster's revival.
Oh agreed in principle that TBS needs to be put back on its feet but said securing the broadcaster's political neutrality and impartiality must come first. "There must first be an expression of will that citizens can trust, showing that the staff intend to produce fair broadcasting," the mayor said, stressing that TBS must present concrete measures to ensure impartiality. Park said TBS is considering steps such as setting up an independent body to guarantee fairness in its programming and plans to report the measures to the city government this month.
The operation of the Han River bus service also drew criticism. Democratic Party lawmaker Mok So-young said of the city's review of higher weekend fares and a reservation system: "A reservation system and premium weekend fares amount to admitting that it has failed as public transit." She argued the service should be converted into a profitable tourist cruise operation rather than absorbing hundreds of billions of won in public funds. She also took issue with the city's failure to adequately report to the council as the budget for reinforcing mooring equipment at the piers grew from an initial 3.9 billion won to 11.3 billion won.
Oh countered that the Han River bus serves both public transit and tourism functions. "Some buses coming into Seoul from Gyeonggi Province also use reservation systems," he said. "This is meant to improve convenience for citizens, not to restrict use." On the increased mooring budget, he said the 3.9 billion won had been a rough estimate covering only essential costs and that the figure rose as the final scope of the project was determined.
Oh also reaffirmed his opposition to the central government's review of a plan to supply public housing at Yongsan Park. "As the person responsible for running this city, I can tell you there is no mayor anywhere in the world who would agree to converting park land into residential land," he said. "We will protect Yongsan Park without fail."
