The Cheonan Park Golf Association in South Chungcheong Province, which sparked controversy over so-called "targeting" by sharing a public official's contact information in a group chat, issued an official apology for the act while arguing that the fundamental cause of the incident lies in the passive administration of Cheonan City and the Cheonan Urban Corporation.
On the 15th, Jung Seok-hee, president of the Cheonan Park Golf Association, held a press conference and said, "The leaking of the public official's mobile phone number pointed out by the union was my inexcusable oversight." He added, "I bow my head in apology for the hurt I caused the official in charge. I apologized directly to the person by phone, and the shared contact information was immediately deleted." He continued, "We will conduct communication and etiquette training for our executives to ensure the same thing does not happen again."
Earlier, the Cheonan City Hall Public Officials' Union and the Cheonan Urban Corporation Union announced through a joint statement the previous day that the association's executives had shared the mobile and office phone numbers of the official in charge of operating the Pungseocheon park golf course in a group chat, and had induced organized complaints such as "make 100 calls a day" and "one call per person daily." They announced their intention to take legal action, including filing a complaint for alleged violation of the Personal Information Protection Act and a report to the Sports Ethics Center. The union argued, "Distributing a specific official's personal information to many people and concentrating complaints in an organized manner goes beyond the scope of legitimate expression of opinion."
The association countered that while sharing the contact information itself was wrong, the fundamental cause that triggered the incident was the response of the administrative authorities. President Jung said, "Due to unauthorized entry by outsiders at the Pungseocheon park golf course, the very Cheonan citizens who pay taxes have suffered the inconvenience of long waits." He argued, "To resolve this, we continuously demanded that Cheonan City and the Urban Corporation come up with measures over the past six months, but they passed responsibility to each other and took no substantive action."
He continued, "City Hall only offered a formulaic response, telling us to file complaints solely through official documents, while the Urban Corporation passed responsibility on to City Hall, resulting in a continued lack of communication in the administration." He explained, "This incident occurred in the process of members voicing their concerns directly out of frustration."
Criticism of the Urban Corporation's operating methods also followed. The association argued that staff who lacked understanding of park golf controlled access, causing elderly users to endure long lines every morning, and that the situation was improved only after the related problems were reported in the media. It also pointed to the operation of personnel centered on retired public officials and a lack of on-site expertise as problems.
The association also refuted the union's characterization of the association's demand for the right to operate the course as an undermining of the rule of law. President Jung said, "Demanding operating rights is intended to reduce on-site friction based on expertise in park golf and to provide jobs for retired seniors." He added, "Other sports such as soccer are operated mainly on weekends, but park golf is effectively operated every day, so a permanent operating system with expertise is needed." He continued, "The association participates in facility operations in various local governments in South Chungcheong, including nearby Asan City," emphasizing the need for the association to run the operation under contract.
In addition, President Jung said, "I ask Cheonan City to come up with effective measures to relieve the inconvenience for citizens." He added, "I hope we stop hurting each other through confrontation and conflict, and create a forum for dialogue where the association, public officials, the official in charge and the union gather in one place to resolve all misunderstandings and problems."
