Lee Ju-young and Park Wan-su, Gyeongnam Governor Preliminary Candidates Mud-slinging Fight... Pre-campaigning vs False Information Fear

Former Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Lee Ju-young (left) and Assemblyman Park Wan-su, candidates for the June Gyeongnam Governor election.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Se-ryeong] The fierce struggle among the People Power Party preliminary candidates aiming to run for the Governor of Gyeongnam Province in the June local elections has begun.

Following the accusation by former Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Lee Ju-young’s camp against Representative Park Wan-su for illegal pre-election campaigning, Park’s camp has strongly countered, calling it the spread of false information.

Preliminary candidate Lee Ju-young filed a complaint against Representative Park Wan-su with the Election Commission on the same day, and Park also announced plans to file a complaint with the prosecution against Lee for spreading false information under the Public Official Election Act.

On the afternoon of the 8th, Choi Chun-hwan, spokesperson for Lee Ju-young’s election campaign headquarters, held a press conference in front of the Gyeongnam Election Commission, stating, “We accuse Representative Park Wan-su of illegal pre-election campaigning.”

Spokesperson Choi claimed that although Park is a “person intending to become a candidate” under the Public Official Election Act, he announced his intention to run and solicited support without registering as a preliminary candidate.

He said, “If a person suspected of violating election laws is not filtered out during the nomination process and runs as the party’s candidate in the general election, issues will inevitably be raised by the opposing party and candidates, so we are notifying in advance to prevent this.”

According to Lee’s camp, Representative Park visited party member councils in Jinhae-gu, Changwon City on April 1, Tongyeong City on the 3rd, Sacheon City on the 4th, and Hadong and Namhae counties on the 5th to solicit support.

On the 6th, he also met with party members and citizens in Gimhae City’s Gap and Eul districts and visited the office of preliminary candidate Na Dong-yeon, mayor of Yangsan, to promote his pledges and request support.

On the 7th, he sent phone calls encouraging participation in the June local election voting to a large number of unspecified Gyeongnam residents, including his name.

Lee Ju-young’s campaign announced that they are filing a complaint against Representative Park Wan-su for violating Articles 59 and 254 of the Public Official Election Act, citing multiple cases.

The campaign emphasized, “At the end of March, he opened an office in a certain location in Changwon City that was effectively an election office where supporters came and went,” and added, “We understand that the Gyeongnam Election Commission also pointed out the possibility of election law violations.”

Park Wan-su’s preliminary candidate camp strongly refuted this and has taken legal action.

They argued that the visits to party member council offices and solicitation of support from the 1st to the 6th, which Lee’s camp claimed were violations of election law, do not constitute violations under the Public Official Election Act.

Park’s camp stated, “This appears to be either a misunderstanding of the Public Official Election Act or a deliberate act to influence the outcome of the Gyeongnam governor candidate primary.”

They claimed, “According to Article 59, Clause 4 of the current Public Official Election Act, a prospective candidate who has not registered as a preliminary candidate can still campaign verbally throughout the year.”

A camp official denied the allegations, saying, “Article 58, Clause 2 of the Public Official Election Act allows anyone to encourage voting participation using ARS phone calls.”

Park Wan-su’s camp said, “We reviewed the Public Official Election Act multiple times in advance and confirmed with the Election Commission that our activities did not violate the law,” adding, “It is very regrettable that such conflicts have arisen while both candidates were absent due to nomination screening interviews.”

Park’s camp plans to file a complaint against Lee Ju-young’s campaign headquarters for false information publication under Article 250, Paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Public Official Election Act and for false accusation under Article 156 of the Criminal Act.

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