Democratic Party raises Han River bus rebate allegations at Seoul audit; Oh says internal probe underway

Allegations of rebates tied to the Han River bus project surfaced Thursday during the National Assembly's Administrative Safety Committee national audit of the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said the matter had yet to be confirmed and that the city was conducting an internal audit, adding that it would refer the case to investigators if necessary.

Democratic Party lawmakers dominated the morning session with questions about the Han River bus project, citing a news report published earlier that day. The lawmakers alleged that suspicious financial flows involving a broker had been detected in project funds paid to Gadeok Heavy Industries, the company that built the Han River buses, and that some of that money may have been channeled to a senior executive at the Seoul Housing & Communities Corporation.

The lawmakers further alleged that the matter had been reported to Mayor Oh but that no referral to investigators had followed — and that related documents had been destroyed.

Democratic Party lawmaker Park Ju-min said that if the report's contents were true, "this could go beyond mere corruption allegations over project funds and become a case of administrative cover-up." He added that "circumstantially, the possibility that Mayor Oh was involved cannot be dismissed."

In response, Oh said he had received a related briefing around September 2025 and had at the time ordered a rigorous investigation, going so far as to instruct staff to draft a request for a criminal investigation. He said the city had also reviewed filing an audit request with the Board of Audit and Inspection in order to conduct an objective review of the overall situation.

Oh went on to say that the city had proceeded with the audit request before pursuing a criminal referral, and had expected the Board of Audit and Inspection to examine the allegations as well. "However, the Board of Audit and Inspection dismissed the audit request, and the Seoul city audit committee has since been conducting a detailed investigation into the matter," he said. "We plan to refer the case to investigators if necessary."

Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Young-bae also raised questions about the allegations, noting that the first deputy mayor who had been present at the time — then serving as chief of staff — said he could not recall the circumstances. "Key testimony on the core of these allegations is needed," Kim said, requesting that three witnesses, including audit committee members present at the time, be called to testify.

Oh said he would arrange for them to appear and testify in the afternoon session.

The Han River bus project emerged as a central issue at the Administrative Safety Committee's national audit for the second consecutive year.