As Choo Mi-ae, governor of Gyeonggi Province, declared a "fiscal emergency" and launched a sweeping restructuring of expenditures, it became known that she is using a jeonse apartment worth about 1.2 billion won as her official residence, drawing criticism within the provincial government as "say one thing, do another."
According to Gyeonggi Province and others on the 7th, the province in June signed a jeonse contract for an apartment with an exclusive area of 156 square meters (about 47 pyeong) in Gwanggyo New Town, Suwon, with a deposit of 1.22 billion won. Since shortly after taking office in July, Governor Choo has been living in the apartment near the provincial government building.
Earlier, on the 5th of last month, Governor Choo declared a "fiscal emergency" and, vowing to overcome the fiscal crisis, drew up a supplementary budget proposal that included an expenditure restructuring totaling 546.5 billion won.
Citing an organizational reshuffle, regular personnel appointments for the second half were postponed to January next year, and welfare budgets such as employee sports day participation fees were also cut. In this situation, voices within the provincial government say Governor Choo's use of a 1.2 billion won official residence does not align with the austerity stance.
On "Wagle Wagle," the anonymous bulletin board for provincial employees, a series of critical posts said it is inconsistent for the governor to use a 1.2 billion won jeonse apartment while asking employees to cooperate to overcome the fiscal crisis.
There were also points raised such as, "Do you know the difficulties of employees who commute two to three hours a day by public transportation because there is no official residence?" and "While demanding austerity and reform from employees, is enjoying a 47-pyeong, 1-person unit worth 1.2 billion won in line with what residents expect?"
Former Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly member Ko Jun-ho also said in a news release, "If you asked employees to save, a stricter standard should have been applied to the governor's own housing," and "By choosing a smaller official residence, the province should have tied up less fiscal resources and left that much fiscal capacity for areas residents need."
Gyeonggi Province says the official residence contract was carried out in accordance with relevant regulations as needed for work.
A Gyeonggi Province official said, "To facilitate provincial administration, we secured an official residence in the closest location and proceeded with the contract in accordance with relevant regulations."