SUWON — Gyeonggi Province posted an official response to a petition calling for Governor Choo Mi-ae to step down just one day after the petition met the threshold requiring a reply, with the number of signatories surpassing 30,000.
The province said on the 15th that it had posted the response that morning on the Gyeonggi Province petition website, under the petition titled "We petition for the resignation of Governor Choo Mi-ae."
In the response, the province said, "We ask for residents' deep understanding of the fiscal situation the province faces, and we will do our utmost to the end to protect residents' livelihoods and overcome the fiscal crisis." It added, "We express deep regret over the distortion of facts, as if the current provincial administration deliberately cut a livelihood budget that had been properly drawn up."
The wording is virtually identical to a written briefing by the Gyeonggi Province spokesperson on the resignation petition, issued the previous day. The province's petition website states that for any petition gathering more than 10,000 signatures within 30 days, the governor will respond responsibly through a written reply, a video or a site visit.
The resignation petition has now been switched to "response completed" status, meaning no further signatures can be added. As a result, participation stopped at 30,775.
