Legislation and Judiciary Committee Chair Seo Young-kyo: "Hangang Bus, a Tax-Money-Devouring Beast, Is an Oh Se-hoon Corruption Bus"... Calls for Kickback Probe

Seo: "The delay in referring the case for investigation and the order to destroy investigation materials must be explained"

Amid allegations that a shipbuilder misappropriated project funds and paid kickbacks in connection with the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Hangang Bus project, Seo Young-kyo, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker and chair of the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, called for a thorough investigation, raising suspicions that a request for a criminal investigation was delayed and that officials ordered the destruction of investigative materials.

The Hangang Bus, which began regular operations on the 18th, passes Jamsu Bridge in Seoul. 2025.09.18 Photo by Yoon Dongju

On October 20, Seo said the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Audit Committee had examined the project spending records of Gadeok Heavy Industries, the shipbuilder for the Hangang Bus, and identified about 1.5 billion won in suspected spending for unauthorized purposes. She alleged that a request for a criminal investigation had been drafted after investigators found that several hundred million won had been paid to a broker and that a bribe may have been delivered to a senior executive at Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH).

According to a public-interest whistleblower, the results of the investigation were reported to Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon on September 9 last year, and the request for a criminal investigation was also reported on September 12 of that year. However, an order was allegedly issued on September 30 to destroy all investigative materials. Seo said Seoul Metropolitan Government employees had stored the materials with passwords, allowing the allegations to become known outside the government.

Criticism also emerged that the Seoul Metropolitan Government did not mention the kickback allegations when it sought a public-interest audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection instead of requesting a police investigation. The Board dismissed the public-interest audit request, which it received on October 2 last year, and the Seoul Metropolitan Government requested a criminal investigation on October 16 this year, after related allegations were raised during this year's parliamentary audit.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said it had not included the kickback allegations in its request to the Board because they were not established facts at the time, and that it had asked the Board to audit the appropriateness of the shipbuilder selection, cost increases, and advance payments. It said it had planned to provide details of the allegations involving the company if the audit request had been accepted.

“I thought the Hangang Bus was a taxpayer-money-guzzling project, but it turns out to be Oh Se-hoon’s corruption bus,” Seo said, calling for the kickback allegations, the delay in requesting a criminal investigation, and the circumstances surrounding the order to destroy investigative materials to be clarified.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.