Opposition-controlled Seoul council passes budget for disputed free school meals

SEOUL, Dec. 30 (Yonhap) -- Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and the opposition-controlled
Seoul Metropolitan Council are set for an escalation of conflict over the free
school meal program for all elementary, middle and high school students in the
capital, as the council on Thursday passed the 2011 municipal budget bill
containing about 70 billion won (US$61.2 million) earmarked for free school
meals.
In a plenary session held early Thursday morning, the Seoul Metropolitan Council,
controlled by members of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), approved the
capital city's yearly budget of 20.59 trillion won, which marked a reduction of
25.7 billion won from Oh's request, officials said.
The municipal budget bill contained significant sums for most DP-backed schemes,
including free school meals (69.5 billion won), support for the seriously
disabled people (20 billion won) and temporary labor program for the
underprivileged (10.1 billion won), said the officials.



But the council committee scrapped budgets for Oh's key projects, including a
Seoul-Incheon waterway project (75.2 billion won), creation of Han River art
island (40.6 billion won) and a forestation project (2.6 billion won) in
Mongolia's capital, Ulan Bator, they noted.
Following the passage of the budget bill, the DP-led Seoul council is set to
reapprove an ordinance on the free school meal program.
On Wednesday, the council filed a complaint with the Seoul Central Prosecutors'
Office, insisting that Oh has neglected his duty by refusing to show up at all
council sessions.
Oh, a member of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP), and the council's
opposition members have long been in feud over the free lunch ordinance applying
to all elementary and secondary schools next year. Oh and the GNP denounce the
free lunch program as a populist campaign that would dent the government's fiscal
soundness, while the DP calls for freeing pupils from poor families from free
meal stigmas.
Free school lunch was one of the DP's centerpiece campaign pledges in the June 2
local elections that picked governors, mayors and local council members.
Seoul's DP-controlled council defied Mayor Oh's opposition and passed the free
school meal ordinance on Dec. 1 to begin the program next year. Oh, however, has
refused to sign the ordinance and boycotted all council sessions in protest.
Shortly after the council's budget bill approval, aides for Oh said that the
metropolitan government won't execute the budget for free school meals, while
seeking a court injunction against the free meal ordinance.
ycm@yna.co.kr