Prosecutors Indict 13 Including Song Cheol-ho and Hwang Un-ha Over Alleged Election Interference (Comprehensive)

Jeong Gyeong-sim, wife of Justice Minister Cho Kuk and a professor at Dongyang University, was summoned privately for the fifth time by the prosecution on the 14th for investigation. The photo was taken at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the same day. Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] The prosecution investigating allegations of political interference and election manipulation by the Blue House has simultaneously indicted 13 individuals involved in the case, including Song Cheol-ho, Mayor of Ulsan, and Song Byung-gi, Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of Ulsan.

The Public Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Tae-eun) announced on the 29th that they have indicted Mayor Song, former Deputy Mayor Song, former Ulsan Police Chief Hwang Un-ha, former Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Baek Won-woo, former Anti-Corruption Secretary Park Hyung-chul, former Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Han Byung-do, and 13 others without detention on charges including violations of the Public Official Election Act. Former Senior Administrative Officer Jang Hwan-seok of the Balanced Development Secretariat, former Administrative Officer Moon, and Ulsan City Political Affairs Special Advisor Jeong were also brought to trial together.

The prosecution stated that besides those indicted without detention on this day, they plan to sequentially complete investigations on other related individuals.

Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol is deep in thought during the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee's audit held at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 17th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

The investigation team reportedly reported to Lee Sung-yoon, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, on the previous day regarding the judicial handling direction of the case's related parties and proposed several detailed disposition options for each suspect. Initially, since some suspects had not yet undergone face-to-face interrogation, options such as deferring indictment until after the interrogation or indicting all related parties at once based solely on already secured evidence without further investigation were discussed. However, the prosecution settled on indicting all related parties simultaneously.

On this day, Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol held a meeting with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office leadership, including Lee Sung-yoon, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Shin Bong-soo, 3rd Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, and Kim Tae-eun, Head of Public Investigation Division 2, and made a sudden decision to indict these individuals.

During the meeting, Chief Prosecutor Lee proposed entrusting the decision on indictment to a professional investigative advisory group, but this was not accepted. Lee also reportedly insisted on deciding on the detention of former Chief Hwang after his summons and interrogation. On the other hand, Prosecutor General Yoon and other senior officials expressed that there was sufficient legal basis for indictment and that prompt indictment was inevitable to ensure fair management of the April general election. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office reportedly recorded all individual opinions of attendees in the meeting minutes. Lee's opinion was noted as a 'dissent.'

Song Byung-gi, Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of Ulsan City, is entering the Central District Prosecutors' Office building in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 13th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

The prosecution applied charges of violating the Public Official Election Act to most of those indicted on this day. They concluded that Mayor Song requested former Ulsan Police Chief Hwang, who was in office in September 2017, to investigate former Ulsan Mayor Kim Ki-hyun, and that former Deputy Mayor Song provided Administrative Officer Moon with information about Kim's misconduct. Mayor Song and Deputy Mayor Song are also charged with requesting former Senior Administrative Officer Jang in October of the same year to delay the announcement of the preliminary feasibility study for the 'Industrial Accident Memorial Hospital,' a key campaign pledge of former Mayor Kim. Jang accepted this request and provided internal information related to the hospital, which the prosecution judged as a violation of the Public Official Election Act.

The prosecution concluded that former Chief Hwang conducted an investigation related to former Mayor Kim through so-called 'political interference' and that this influenced the election. They also applied abuse of authority charges for unjust personnel actions taken against police officers who did not actively pursue investigations around former Mayor Kim.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Former Secretary Baek is seen by the prosecution as having facilitated the political interference investigation by passing intelligence documents about former Mayor Kim's corruption suspicions to the police through former Secretary Park. Both Baek and Park are also implicated in allegations of 'covering up an inspection' related to former Busan Deputy Mayor Yoo Jae-soo.

Former Senior Secretary Han is accused of urging Im Dong-ho, a former Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party and a rival in Mayor Song's party primary in February 2018, to withdraw from the primary and offering a public office position in return. Im, the former Chief of Staff scheduled for prosecution on the 30th, is also suspected of being involved in this charge.

The prosecution also uncovered that from August 2017 to April 2018, Mayor Song's campaign received internal Ulsan City Hall documents via email and mail, which were used for establishing election pledges and TV debate materials. They applied charges of violating the Public Official Election Act to Deputy Mayor Song, Kim, and four other Ulsan city officials. Political Affairs Special Advisor Jeong was indicted without detention on charges of obstructing official duties by leaking interview questions for public servant recruitment after the 2018 local elections.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.