Busan Metropolitan Council opens 341st regular session ... administrative audits of Busan city government and education office begin

[Financial News] The Busan Metropolitan Council opened its 341st regular session on the morning of the 3rd with its first plenary meeting. During the session, the council is scheduled to conduct administrative audits reviewing the city’s performance this year. It will also review the budget proposal and other matters that will shape next year’s policy direction.

According to the Busan Metropolitan Council on the 3rd, it plans to handle about 116 agenda items during the session, including 86 ordinance bills, 29 motions for consent and one opinion-hearing proposal.
At the first plenary meeting on the opening day of the session, 12 council members delivered five-minute floor speeches, calling for measures to address pending issues including vetting appointments at public institutions, a new airport and transportation infrastructure, development of new marine industries, and ways to prevent young people from leaving the city.
The proposals included: Ryu Do-hee (People Power Party proportional representative), proposing the construction of a Busan Battle Memorial Hall to commemorate the Busanpo Battle of the Imjin War; Kim Tae-hee (Buk-gu District 4, Democratic Party), calling for measures to improve transparency after finding that only 39% of the minutes from the 311 committees affiliated with Busan city government are made public; Kim Jae-un (Busanjin District 3), urging the city not to sit on its hands on matters requiring a government decision, such as the Gadeokdo New Airport and attracting the headquarters of an integrated low-cost carrier (LCC); Seong Hyeon-dal (Nam-gu District 3), condemning the current city administration’s scrapping of the Busan Women and Family Plaza construction project; Song Woo-hyeon (Dongnae District 2, People Power Party), urging the city to reset its governing priorities around its role and achievements on major issues; Han Gap-yong (Busanjin District 2, Democratic Party), saying the “Obang-garde dance controversy” calls for a Busan-style solution to invigorate small-scale performance culture; Choi Hong-chan (Yeonje District 1, People Power Party), calling for a major overhaul of Busan’s policies for university students to reverse the outflow of young people; Park Jeong-sun (Saha District 4, Democratic Party), saying the city needs to expedite administrative procedures as construction of the Dadaepo Port coastal road continues to be delayed; Jo Yong-woo (Democratic Party proportional representative), calling for the environmental costs of expanding Arctic shipping routes, including greenhouse gas emissions and marine pollution, to be considered; Kim Dong-ha (Dongnae District 1), urging the city to join efforts to restore normal operations at Kukje Shinmun; Lee Yeol (Yeonje District 2), calling for a Gadeokdo ship-repair complex to be developed as a foundation for Busan’s future maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) industry; and Yun Ji-young (Saha District 1, People Power Party), saying it was a serious problem that the city went ahead with appointing the Busan Transportation Corporation president nominee despite the nominee being deemed unqualified at the confirmation hearing.
From the 4th through the 17th, each standing committee will conduct 14 days of administrative audits of Busan city government, the education office, their affiliated public corporations and agencies, and institutions they invest in or provide funding to. The committees will then review general agenda items, including ordinance bills, over two days, from the 18th through the 19th.
At the second plenary meeting, to be held on the 20th, the council will hear the mayor of Busan and the superintendent of education explain their proposals accompanying submission of next year’s budget. The standing committees will then conduct preliminary reviews of the budget from the 21st through the 1st of next month, followed by a comprehensive review by the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts from the 2nd through the 9th of that month. The budget will receive final approval at the third plenary meeting on the 10th of next month.
Finally, the standing committees will complete further reviews of ordinance bills and other matters from the 11th through the 14th of that month. At the fourth plenary meeting on the 15th, the council will make final decisions on agenda items, including adoption of the report on this year’s administrative audits, bringing all its session activities for the year to a close.



[email protected] Byun Ok-hwan Reporter