Daegu Seomun Market Support Funds Plagued by Systemic Failures... Jung-gu Council Member Lee Nagyeom Criticizes Lack of Oversight
Lee Nagyeom (People Power Party), a member of the Daegu Jung-gu Council, called for the executive branch to take action during a district administration questioning session at a plenary meeting held on October 21, criticizing lax administration and management, as well as a lack of oversight, across traditional market support programs for Daegu's Seomun Market.
“Support to strengthen the competitiveness of traditional markets is necessary, but the need for support and verifying that the money was properly spent are separate issues,” Lee said. “Individual receipts may appear to be in order, but when they are examined together, they reveal lax practices and the true state of poor administration.”
Lee pointed to five key issues and demanded clear explanations from the executive branch: inadequate cross-checking of customer support center labor costs and allegations of costs being paid on others' behalf; loans of rental deposits and a lack of follow-up management and oversight; duplicate payments of labor costs for restroom cleaning services and repeated contracts awarded to a particular company; a lack of fairness in the bidding process for a particular store and errors in calculating the amount; and duplicate payments for restroom supplies and repairs, as well as ambiguous criteria for sharing facility costs.
Lee cited the loss of representativeness of the Seomun Market merchants' federation and the district office's lax oversight as the root causes of these recurring problems. Lee said it would be difficult to reflect the views of all merchants under the current structure, in which only a few of the nine merchants' associations remain, and urged the district office to take an active role in restoring the federation as a genuine “control tower.”
Hot Picks Today
Despite "Insufficient Balance" Notices, They Board Anyway... Reports of Foreign Fare Evasion Mounting
- A "Rich Family's Daughter" Is "Effortlessly Polished" Today, "Glamorous" Tomorrow... Department Store-Core Has 20- and 30-Somethings Going Wild [Why&Next]
- "Even Underwear Has to Be Cut Up with Scissors"... China Hit by Rise of "Trash Hunters" in an "If You're Slow, You're Out" Scramble
- "If You Don't Buy Now, You Can't Get It at This Price": Koreans Fill the Void Left by Chinese Tourists, Spend Big in Japan
- "Photos of Kim Jong Un Released by North Korea Are a Deception"... Debate Over Death Rumors Continues
Emphasizing that “this questioning is intended to ensure the transparency of public funds,” Lee said it should serve as an opportunity to put the administration of traditional market support on the right track. Lee called for a full investigation into the five issues raised, written documentation of the criteria for sharing facility costs, and submission of the investigation's findings.
© The Asia Business Daily. All rights reserved. Unauthorized AI training and use prohibited.
