[Exclusive] Seoul revoked establishment approvals for 14 groups over missing reports—but conducted zero inspections of ‘Gongsaeng School,’ founded by a donor to Oh Se-hoon

[Financial News] Seoul canceled the establishment approvals of 14 nonprofits that had failed to report their business performance and plans, while records show that it did not even conduct an on-site inspection of an entity founded by businessman Kim Han-jung, known as a donor to Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon. The entity did not submit a single annual business report from its establishment in 2022 until it resolved to dissolve in 2025. The Seoul Metropolitan Government took measures such as revoking approvals from other nonprofits for failing to meet reporting obligations, but took no significant action against the entity founded by Kim, prompting questions about the fairness of its oversight.
According to records including the “Management, Supervision and Inspection of Nonprofits under Seoul’s Jurisdiction” that the city submitted on the 8th to the office of Yun Kun Young, a Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) lawmaker on the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea’s Public Administration and Security Committee, Seoul placed 30 nonprofits on its list of entities whose establishment approvals were revoked from 2021 through October 13 this year. For 14 of them, “failure to report business performance, business plans, and other matters” was listed as the reason for revocation.
On November 28 last year, Seoul revoked the establishment approvals of 12 organizations at once, including the incorporated association Youth Kim Dae-jung, the Seoul Citizens’ Autonomy Center, Another 100 Years, Participation and Sharing, the Korea Public Communication Promotion Association, and the Yeongdeungpo District and Jongno District Associations of Former Local Council Members. The reason listed for each organization was “violation of the conditions of establishment approval (failure to report business performance, business plans, and other matters).” The Seoul Outdoor Advertising Association in February last year and the Indie Musicians Association in April 2023 also had their establishment approvals revoked for the same reason.
Under relevant laws and regulations, nonprofits must submit to the competent authority, within two months after the end of each fiscal year, the following year’s business plan and income and expenditure budget, the current year’s business performance and financial statements, an inventory of assets, and other documents. When necessary to supervise an organization’s affairs and financial situation, the competent authority may order it to submit relevant materials or conduct an inspection through its officials. A failure to meet reporting obligations may constitute a violation of the conditions of establishment approval and, depending on the specific circumstances of the violation and the approval conditions, may be grounds for revoking the approval.
Records of Seoul’s requests for materials from nonprofits show a total of 159 requests or notices to submit materials from December 2022 through October 13 this year. The figure includes not only requests to individual organizations but also blanket notices sent by the departments overseeing nonprofits under their jurisdiction.
Seoul also conducted on-site inspections of some organizations that had failed to meet their obligation to submit materials. On April 1 last year, it checked the offices and activities of the National Development and Ethnic Unity Association and the Bicycle Transportation Promotion Institute, and on the 3rd of the same month, the Bicycle Education Mothers’ Association, among others. The stated reason for each inspection was “failure to submit materials.”
On May 19 of the same year, Seoul inspected whether the offices were operating and whether 13 organizations, including Youth Kim Dae-jung, Another 100 Years, and Participation and Sharing, were active. The city cited “prolonged loss of contact and inability to verify activity records” as the reason for the inspections. Twelve of these organizations had their establishment approvals revoked in November of that year.
By contrast, the nonprofit incorporated association Fairness and Coexistence (Gongsaeng) School, founded by Kim Han-jung, appeared neither in the inspection records for nonprofits submitted by Seoul nor on the list of entities whose establishment approvals were revoked. The records of requests for materials also contained no entry specifically naming Gongsaeng School.
Gongsaeng School was founded on January 19, 2022, received establishment approval from Seoul on February 28, and dissolved on November 17 last year. In other words, it submitted no annual business-report documents during the approximately three years and 10 months from its founding to its dissolution.
A representative of Yun Kun Young’s office said, “After separately checking the circumstances with the Seoul official in charge, we were told that no action had been taken because Gongsaeng School was not carrying out activities as a separate entity.”
Gongsaeng School has also drawn attention because of its personal ties to Mayor Oh. Many people who had worked on Oh’s election campaign joined its board, and Oh personally attended the school’s opening ceremony in March 2022. Oh’s side has previously said that the individuals in question were hired through proper procedures and that there was no preferential hiring.
Yun Kun Young said, “It is difficult to understand that Seoul revoked the establishment approvals of other nonprofits for failing to meet their reporting obligations, while taking not even basic oversight measures against an entity founded by someone connected to Mayor Oh Se-hoon. The city must clearly explain whether it applied a different standard only to a particular organization.”
A Seoul official said, “The 14 organizations whose establishment approvals were revoked had either failed to submit business performance and plans for at least three years or had been out of contact for a prolonged period. We notified Gongsaeng School through the same procedure, but in April last year we were informed by phone that it was in the process of dissolution, so we did not proceed with administrative measures such as issuing a corrective order or revoking its establishment approval.”
Meanwhile, Oh and Kim were jointly indicted on charges including arranging for someone else to cover the costs of opinion polls for political broker Myeong Tae-gyun ahead of the 2021 Seoul mayoral by-election. The court of first instance sentenced Oh to a 10 million won fine and ordered him to pay 21 million won in additional forfeiture, but on the 23rd of last month, the appeals court found that the charges had not been sufficiently proven and acquitted both Oh and Kim. Special Counsel Min Joung-kie’s team appealed the ruling on the 30th of last month, and the case is now awaiting a decision by the Supreme Court of Korea.
[email protected] Kim Ye-ji Reporter