Won Hee-ryong, Prosecuted for Pizza Incident, Says "I Will Assume the Prosecution Has Difficult Circumstances"

Jeon Hee-ryong, Governor of Jeju, dressed as a pizza delivery person for his first work task of the new year in January, visited a local employment support agency to deliver pizza. Photo by Jeju Province Provided

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] On the 22nd, Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong, who was indicted for distributing pizza to trainees at the Youth Employment Support Center, said, "I suppose the prosecution must have difficult circumstances as well."

The Jeju District Prosecutors' Office announced that they had indicted Governor Won without detention on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act's prohibition on donation acts.

Governor Won is accused of purchasing pizza worth about 600,000 won (25 boxes) in January and providing it to about 100 trainees and staff at 'The Bigger Tomorrow Center,' a youth employment support institution in Jeju.

He is also accused of promoting and selling sea urchin porridge made by a Jeju-based company A on his YouTube channel 'Wonderful TV' in December last year.

On the same day, Governor Won posted on his Facebook about the indictment, stating, "The prosecution says both are donation acts. They say I could face imprisonment for up to five years or a fine of up to 10 million won." He added, "Everyone knows how hard governors or mayors work to sell local products. There are even heartwarming news articles asking, 'Did you sell out the potatoes?'"

He further said, "It is not unusual to hold 'meetings' at upscale restaurants targeting reporters or opinion leaders. Nowadays, the details of the business promotion expenses used by provincial governors and mayors are all disclosed." This is interpreted as meaning that the prosecution excessively judged the use of business promotion expenses for official duties as a 'donation act.'

Governor Won said, "I will not add any trivial political interpretations," and added, "I suppose the prosecution must have difficult circumstances as well, so I will focus more on provincial administration."

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