Seoul council axes Mayor Oh's AI youth budget, straining cross-party cooperation

Seoul Metropolitan Council Speaker Im Man-gyun appeared to be in deep deliberation from the very first supplementary budget vote of his tenure.

Despite belonging to the majority Democratic Party of Korea, Im presided over a session that wiped out the entire 5.62 billion won ($4.2 million) earmarked for Mayor Oh Se-hoon's signature youth AI program.

The council held a plenary session Friday afternoon and passed a measure eliminating all funding intended to provide generative AI access passes to 500,000 young Seoulites.

The budget had already failed to survive the budget and accounts special committee before reaching the floor. The supplementary budget bill passed with 63 votes in favor, 37 against and one abstention, out of 101 members present.

Budget bills typically pass with bipartisan agreement, but Friday's vote broke along party lines — roughly 63 Democratic Party lawmakers voted in favor while about 37 People Power Party members voted against — signaling that cooperation may be difficult from the very first session of this council.

Speaker Im and Deputy Speaker Seong Heum-je are said to be in a deeply uncomfortable position as the council's budget decision has put them at odds with the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

While the council holds the power to cut budgets, the city government holds the power to draft them. If the conflict continues, bridging the gap over next year's budget is expected to be no easy task.

"This isn't even an ideological issue — they should have trimmed some of Mayor Oh's budget, not cut it entirely," one council member said. "If they slash everything, how can they expect the city to properly allocate district-level funding for council members when next year's budget is drawn up?"

Politics requires give and take, and if the confrontation continues at this extreme, both the council and city hall are expected to face a difficult road ahead.

The fallout could also erode the Democratic Party's approval rating among Seoulites in their 20s and 30s, deepening Speaker Im's dilemma further.

The council also passed an ordinance Friday to revive rights-based public jobs for people with disabilities.

The rights-based public jobs program provides employment in areas such as rights advocacy, arts and culture, and awareness campaigns for people with disabilities who have been marginalized from the labor market.

A separate ordinance amendment on improving mobility for transportation-disadvantaged residents, pushed as a party-line initiative by the council's Democratic Party caucus, also passed.

The council additionally approved a resolution calling for the normalization of TBS, likewise championed by the Democratic Party caucus.