Dongdaemun-gu Mayor Yudeokyeol Clarifies "I Have Never Received Money Related to Staff Promotions"

I deeply regret the controversy involving myself, regardless of the facts. I strongly express my deep regret over the media reports related to this case being inaccurate and firmly urge a clear and precise correction... I have never received bribes related to promotion, and allegations of embezzling business promotion funds are unfounded.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Yoo Deok-yeol, Mayor of Dongdaemun District, clarified on the 18th that the media reports related to the police's seizure and search conducted on the 13th are not true.

Mayor Yoo stated in the afternoon that he would like to clarify the contents reported by the media as follows, and first expressed deep regret over the controversy caused regarding himself, regardless of the facts. He expressed deep regret that the media reports related to this incident are different from the truth and strongly urged that they be clearly and accurately corrected.

One media outlet published an article titled "Police Capture Evidence of Bribery for Promotion Request by Yoo Deok-yeol, Mayor of Dongdaemun District" on the same day.

However, Mayor Yoo responded, "Regarding the promotion personnel matters of Dongdaemun District Office employees, I declare that I have never received any money or valuables from the employees," and added, "Although the whistleblower claimed that the former chief secretary received money and delivered it to the mayor, the former chief secretary also testified to the police that he never received any money."

Regarding the embezzlement of business promotion expenses, he also denied any embezzlement and presumed that the matters reported so far are based on an investigation following someone's whistleblowing. However, he asserted that under no circumstances has he ever embezzled public funds for personal use. He added that while there may be differences in opinion regarding compliance with regulations on the execution of business promotion expenses, this can also be sufficiently explained during the investigation process.

Furthermore, he added that he hopes there will be no misunderstandings regarding the fact that his mobile phone was submitted to the investigative authorities, making it inevitably difficult to contact him.

Mayor Yoo promised to actively cooperate with the investigation related to this incident going forward and earnestly requested that reports on unverified matters be refrained from in the future.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption and Public Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency conducted a seizure and search of Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol's office and residence on the 13th. There are rumors that one of the employees made a whistleblowing report.

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