Seoul Mayor Oh backs TBS reinstatement but demands political neutrality first

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said Thursday he supports re-designating TBS as a city-funded broadcaster, but insisted the station must first demonstrate political neutrality and fairness. He also reiterated his opposition to building housing inside Yongsan Park.

Speaking at the 339th extraordinary session of the Seoul Metropolitan Council, Oh responded to a question from Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Yu-jin (Eunpyeong 3), who had called for TBS to be re-designated as a city-affiliated institution. "I know the council wants TBS re-designated as soon as possible so it can return to normal operations, and I have no principled objection to that," Oh said.

He added that he had never once considered abolishing the city's support ordinance for TBS, even during difficult periods when he faced what he called baseless attacks linking him to broadcaster Kim Ou-joon.

Oh said, however, that TBS had a real problem with fairness. "There is serious doubt in anyone's mind as to whether TBS was politically fair and objective at the time," he said. "The lawmaker expressed confidence that broadcast fairness can be guaranteed, but that is not something the council can guarantee — it must first come from a voluntary expression of will by TBS members themselves."

He said the public harbors widespread skepticism about TBS's impartiality and that at a minimum, some procedural process should be in place to reflect what citizens think.

On the question of housing supply inside Yongsan Park — raised by People Power Party council member Cha In-young (Yeongdeungpo 3) — Oh said no mayor of any major city in the world would agree to converting land designated as a park into a residential site simply to escape a surge in real estate prices.

Oh also argued that even if the government pushed ahead with housing development in Yongsan Park, it would not produce an immediate supply effect. "The Special Act on Yongsan Park prohibits any work on the main site, so the law would have to be changed, and the US military has yet to complete its relocation — the timeline for that is still undecided," he said. "When you factor in detailed soil surveys and permitting, ground-breaking cannot happen under this administration."

He added that it was on that basis — with housing supply at least a decade away — that he had proposed the Tancheon Water Reclamation Center site as an alternative.

On the issue of missing rebar in the GTX-A Samsung station section, Oh said it was problematic that the matter had been turned into a political issue and exploited for electoral purposes. He added that halting reinforcement work for six months — delaying service for residents across northern and southern Gyeonggi Province as well as Seoul — was an unnecessary step.