The By-election Planning Team: "Strict Verification of Multi-home Ownership, Drunk Driving, and Sexual Crimes for Seoul and Busan Mayoral Candidates"

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[Asia Economy Reporter Wondara] The Democratic Party of Korea’s Seoul and Busan mayoral by-election planning team has decided to form a candidate verification committee chaired by an outsider, such as a citizen, by the first week of December. The verification committee will strictly examine issues such as multiple home ownership and drunk driving offenses.

Kim Hangyu, spokesperson for the Democratic Party’s by-election planning team, said during a briefing on the second meeting of the planning team at the National Assembly on the morning of the 19th, "We will complete the formation of the verification committee by the first week of December and prepare all necessary arrangements in cooperation with the party secretariat so that the committee can start immediately."

Spokesperson Kim said, "Today’s meeting included discussions on the composition of the verification committee and the criteria for candidate verification," adding, "To ensure verification is conducted from the citizens’ perspective, we will recommend to the leadership that the committee include a symbolic candidate representing youth and citizens." He continued, "The chairperson will reflect who the verification committee considers most important," and said, "We are thinking of appointing an outsider as the chairperson, someone from the citizenry."

Regarding the future activities of the by-election planning team and the verification committee, Spokesperson Kim stated, "We plan to request strict candidate verification by applying disqualification criteria without exception for crimes such as murder, robbery, violent crimes, drunk driving hit-and-run after the enactment of the Yoon Chang-ho Act, sex crimes, domestic violence, child abuse crimes, and speculative multiple home ownership."

On the verification criteria for multiple home ownership, he said, "Whether exceptions should be considered (such as family residence) needs to be discussed in detail," adding, "We will have more specific discussions with related party organizations." In the last general election, the Democratic Party set the qualification criterion for candidates as owning one home for actual residence and required multiple-home candidates to pledge to dispose of all but one home within two years.

When asked whether child abuse, sex crimes, and domestic violence cases include only those with criminal punishment, Spokesperson Kim said, "We have included all cases with criminal punishment, including suspended prosecutions." Regarding drunk driving, he explained, "According to existing party rules, disqualification applied to cases of two or more offenses within ten years and three total offenses from the election date, but after the enactment of the Yoon Chang-ho Act, the standard will be applied so that even one offense will result in outright exclusion."

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