People Power Party Gwangju Branch: "Allegations of Misconduct by Mayor Lee Yong-seop's Close Aide Must Be Thoroughly Investigated"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] The Gwangju Metropolitan City Party of the People Power Party has urged that the allegations of misconduct involving Mayor Lee Yong-seop's close aides be clarified without any suspicion.

On the 8th, the Gwangju City Party of the People Power Party stated in a commentary, "The police are investigating allegations that the current and former secretaries of Mayor Lee improperly intervened in interests surrounding city-hosted festivals and received money and valuables. Yesterday, they conducted a search and seizure at City Hall," and asserted, "The misconduct of the mayor’s current and former secretaries is not something to be overlooked."

They continued, "Search and seizure is a common-sense measure conducted swiftly at the early stages of an investigation to prevent evidence destruction and collusion, and to secure related evidence," emphasizing, "This police search and seizure should not be merely for show."

Furthermore, they pointed out, "This is not the first search and seizure at Gwangju City Hall; it is the sixth since the 7th local government administration. There are even remarks questioning whether Gwangju City Hall is a frequent target of search and seizure. In September 2019, related to the second phase of the private park special project, the offices of the Deputy Mayor for Administration and the Parks and Greenery Division were searched, and in November of the same year, the mayor’s political special advisor’s office was searched by the prosecution. The second phase of the private park special project was searched three times in total."

They added, "In January last year, during the investigation of the private park special project allegations, illegal party member recruitment charges arose, leading to search and seizure of the Deputy Mayor for Administration’s office and the Urban Corporation office. In April, the police conducted a search and seizure over allegations of real estate speculation by a retired public official," and said, "Citizens’ views on the police’s search and seizure are cold."

They concluded, "For the sake of a clean Gwangju City, this incident must be clarified without any suspicion," and added, "Gwangju City should present measures to prevent recurrence to the citizens, not just an apology."

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