Guro District Mayor's sudden resignation after stock blind trust placement order sparks political criticism

[Anchor]

Moon Heon-il, the mayor of Guro District in Seoul, has suddenly resigned from his position.

This action comes after the court ruled that Mayor Moon must place his stocks, valued at 17 billion won, into a blind trust.

Park Min-kyung reports.

[Report]

Moon Heon-il, the mayor of Guro District in Seoul, has voluntarily resigned.

The mayor has only completed two years of his four-year term.

In his resignation speech, Mayor Moon stated, "I have concluded that it is no longer possible to perform my duties due to unreasonable laws and sanctions against a businessman mayor."

The unlisted stocks held by Mayor Moon are valued at 17 billion won, and the court has ordered him to place the unlisted stocks of the company he founded into a blind trust.

This decision was made due to concerns about a conflict of interest with his mayoral duties.

The Examination Committee on Blind Trust of Stocks decided in March of last year that the stocks of Moon Engineering were related to the mayor's duties and ordered a blind trust, but Mayor Moon contested this and continued with administrative lawsuits, all of which he lost, leading to his decision to resign.

Ultimately, Mayor Moon has chosen his assets over public office.

The political sphere has uniformly criticized this situation.

The Democratic Party has demanded that the ruling party take responsibility for the poor nominations.

The People Power Party's Guro Gap district party membership committee chair, Ho Jun-seok, stated, "He chose to resign without consulting the party," and expressed his apologies, saying, "I feel responsible."

Guro District will be operated under the acting leadership of Deputy Mayor Eom Ui-sik until the by-election scheduled for next April, and the costs for the by-election resulting from Mayor Moon's resignation are expected to reach 3 billion won.

KBS News, Park Min-kyung.