Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon visited a city-run community center this week to serve lunch to children under the new ‘Dundeunhan Kki’ program [1].
The visit serves as a public demonstration of the mayor's commitment to city administration following a first-instance conviction in a poll-funding case [1]. By focusing on social welfare during the school summer vacation, Oh aims to show that municipal services remain stable despite his personal legal challenges [1].
The ‘Dundeunhan Kki’ program provides free meals to children aged six to 12 [1]. It is specifically designed to ensure that children from dual-income, or single-parent families, do not lack nutrition while schools are closed [1]. The city provides a fee of 10,000 won per child for five weekdays of lunch [1]. To further enhance the nutritional value of the meals, the program includes fruit provision twice a week [1].
During the event, Oh interacted with the children and emphasized the importance of their health. "You have to eat a lot," Oh said [1]. He said that the city's goal is to ensure there is "no worry about lunch even during vacation" [1].
Reporter Lee Hyung-won of YTN said that the mayor is using these field activities to signal his intent to focus on city governance without wavering, despite the "bad news" of the court's ruling regarding allegations of paying for poll surveys [1].
“"You have to eat a lot,"”
This move is a strategic effort by Mayor Oh to decouple his personal legal liabilities from his executive functions. By associating himself with a high-visibility, bipartisan social welfare project like child nutrition, he is attempting to maintain political legitimacy and public trust while the legal process regarding the poll-funding case continues.
