A dispute over responsibility has erupted between Jeong Won-oh, the Democratic Party’s Seoul mayoral candidate and former Seongdong District mayor, and incumbent Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon after People Power Party mayoral hopeful Yoon Hee-suk raised concerns about reappointing the Seongdong Cultural Center director amid sexual assault allegations.
On the 30th, during an interview on SBS Radio’s Kim Tae-hyun’s Political Show, Jeong responded to Yoon’s camp’s claim that the district rehired a person accused of sexual violence as head of a Seongdong District–affiliated institution. He said, "You should know a bit more about administration," and added, "That's something you should take up with Mayor Oh."
Jeong argued that Seoul City holds oversight authority over cultural centers while Seongdong District's role is limited to providing budgetary and other support. "So if you want to question oversight, Yoon should ask the Seoul mayor why he handled it that way," he said.
Mayor Oh immediately pushed back. Appearing on SBS’s Joo Young-jin’s News Briefing, Oh criticized Jeong, saying that passing personnel matters that occur at the district level off onto Seoul City will create problems down the line.
Oh accused district cultural centers of operating under the influence of district mayors and said districts provide most of the funding. He pointed out that, in the selection process, the Seongdong administrative management director sits on the board and that many board members are former Democratic Party local politicians. "Putting aside disputes about the facts, Jeong's response raises serious doubts about his qualifications and character as a mayoral candidate," he added.
Seoul City spokesperson Lee Mi-kyung also issued a statement that afternoon criticizing Jeong and saying, "We deeply regret the one-sided shifting of responsibility that ignores citizens' expectations." She noted that, under the Local Cultural Centers Promotion Act, each center's board independently decides on operations and director appointments, while Seoul City and the relevant district share oversight and administrative support.
Seoul City said the capital's 25 district cultural centers operate under the same principles and that appointment procedures typically fall under district discretion and responsibility to reflect local characteristics and autonomy. It argued that because the Seongdong cultural center director at the center of this controversy has been repeatedly reappointed over a long period, the district reasonably exercised sufficient oversight authority and responsibility throughout the process.
