Prosecutors Indict 107 for April 7 By-Election Violations... 5 Elected Officials Including Busan Mayor Park Hyung-jun

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The prosecution has indicted 107 people, including 5 elected officials, for violating the Public Official Election Act in relation to the by-elections held on April 7.

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office announced on the 8th that out of 339 people investigated in connection with the April 7 by-election cases, a total of 107 were prosecuted. The statute of limitations for the April 7 by-election crimes expired the previous day.

Among the 107 prosecuted election offenders, 32 were charged with violent election crimes such as damage to election facilities and acts of violence, 16 with black propaganda and illegal campaigning such as false information dissemination, and 9 with vote-buying offenses. The remaining 50 were classified as other illegal election campaign offenses.

A total of 7 elected officials were investigated, with 5, including Busan Mayor Park Hyung-jun, indicted. Those prosecuted include 1 metropolitan mayor, 1 basic local government head, and 3 metropolitan council members. Among them, 4 face charges of false information dissemination, and 1 is accused of door-to-door visits and pre-election campaigning.

Mayor Park was reported to the prosecution by the Democratic Party amid allegations that he was involved in the surveillance documents related to the Four Major Rivers Project prepared by the National Intelligence Service while serving as the Blue House Public Relations Officer in 2009 during the last by-election. The Busan District Prosecutors' Office, which investigated this case, indicted Mayor Park on the 6th.

A Supreme Prosecutors' Office official stated, "For important cases including elected officials, the investigating prosecutors will directly participate in trials to ensure that sentences commensurate with the illegality are imposed," adding, "Since the presidential election and the simultaneous local elections will be held next year, we will cooperate closely with the Election Commission and the police to respond to election crimes."

Meanwhile, among the cases received by the prosecution, 97.3% of the investigation leads came from complaints and accusations. Among these, accusations from political parties and civic groups accounted for the highest proportion at 78.1%, while accusations from the Election Commission accounted for 16.3%.

The Supreme Prosecutors' Office analyzed that although complaints related to black election crimes have been increasing since the amendment of the Public Official Election Act at the end of last year allowing telephone election campaigning, the prosecution rate for false information dissemination remains low due to difficulties in proving the charges.

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