"Daejeon Civic Group Suspects Violation of Improper Solicitation Act, Files Complaints Against 4 City and District Council Members"

A civic group in Daejeon has filed complaints against four Daejeon city and district council members on suspicion of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.

On the 27th, the Daejeon Participation and Autonomy Citizens' Solidarity announced that it had identified 11 suspected cases of violations of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act after reviewing the expenditure details of local council business promotion expenses in Daejeon.

When reviewing the business promotion expenses of the city and five autonomous district councils from July to December 2022, a total of 11 suspected cases of violations were found (2 cases in the city council, 8 cases in Dong-gu council, and 1 case in Jung-gu council).

Among these, two cases were confirmed in the expenditure details of business promotion expenses by Jo Won-hwi, the 2nd Vice Chairperson of the Daejeon City Council. The Citizens' Solidarity explained, "Two meals with media personnel in Vice Chairperson Jo’s business promotion expenses exceeded the standard of 30,000 KRW per person," and added, "We have filed a request for information disclosure related to this."

In response, the city council stated, "The relevant details were due to an error in the number of people recorded, and the number has been corrected." However, the Citizens' Solidarity emphasized, "We cannot understand the change in the number of people in response to the information disclosure request, and an investigation should be conducted regarding this."

The Citizens' Solidarity also pointed out suspected violations of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act involving Kang Jeong-gyu, Vice Chairperson of Dong-gu council (5 cases), and Park Cheol-yong, Chairperson of the Operations Committee (3 cases). According to the Citizens' Solidarity, these individuals also paid meal expenses exceeding 30,000 KRW per person while dining with media personnel.

Additionally, Yoon Yang-su, Chairperson of Jung-gu council, was flagged for suspicion of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act after paying 129,000 KRW for meals for 17 people at a buffet restaurant located in Daejeon.

The Citizens' Solidarity requested information disclosure from Jung-gu council regarding this matter but received a response stating, "The number of people was corrected from 17 to 6 due to a recording error." However, the Citizens' Solidarity stated, "The weekday lunch price at the buffet is 43,000 KRW, so even applying the corrected number of 6 people by Jung-gu council, the payment amount does not match, and an explanation is necessary."

Accordingly, the Citizens' Solidarity requested information disclosure from Jung-gu council but reported that they were told the number of people was corrected from 17 to 6 due to a recording error.

The Citizens' Solidarity emphasized, "The weekday lunch price at the buffet is 43,000 KRW, so even applying the corrected number of 6 people by Jung-gu council, the payment amount does not match," and added, "An explanation regarding this detail is necessary."

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