"Offering an Economic Special Advisor Position"... Who Made the Public Office Proposal?

Controversy Over Bribery Allegations Against Hong Nampyo, Changwon Mayor Candidate

On the 20th, the 7th trial related to the violation of the Public Official Election Act by Hong Nampyo, mayor of Changwon Special City, was held at the Changwon District Court in Gyeongnam.

According to the prosecution, Mayor Hong and Mr. A are accused of conspiring after knowing that Mr. B would run as a preliminary candidate for the People Power Party's Changwon mayoral election in last year's nationwide local elections, and promising public office if he joined Mayor Hong's election campaign, who was then a preliminary candidate.

Mr. B is accused of accepting the proposal to join Mayor Hong's election campaign and the promise of public office from Mr. A.

Hong Nampyo, Mayor of Changwon Special City, Gyeongnam (right), is walking toward the courthouse where the trial is being held.
[Photo by Lee Seryeong]

The trial began with cross-examination by Mr. A's defense attorney of a witness who also appeared at the 6th trial.

Mr. A's defense attorney disclosed part of a recorded conversation between Mr. B and Mr. A, focusing on the fact that Mayor Hong never directly offered or promised public office to Mr. B.

The disclosed content included a promise from Mr. A to Mr. B that if he joined the campaign and helped then-candidate Mayor Hong, he would be given the position of economic advisor upon Mayor Hong's election.

Regarding the vice mayor position that Mr. B claimed to have been offered, Mr. A expressed refusal, and it was understood that Mr. B seemed to accept this.

The witness testified, "Mr. A promised Mr. B the position of economic advisor and said that if he did well, he could get even more."

At a meeting on April 5, 2022, between Mayor Hong and Mr. A and Mr. B, then-candidate Mayor Hong asked Mr. B, "What kind of work do you want to do?" and Mr. B replied that he wanted to work on youth entrepreneurship and issues related to socially vulnerable groups such as women and the elderly.

Mayor Hong responded that it aligned with his policies and asked how he could help, to which Mr. B requested to work with about ten people who shared his views.

The defense attorney asked the witness, "If then-candidate Hong had already decided to give Mr. B the economic advisor position, would he have asked what kind of work he wanted to do?" and "Isn't it because Mr. B could not directly state the conditions for joining that he said this?"

The attorney also raised suspicions about prior consultation before the investigation, noting the similarity between Mr. B's letter of repentance and the witness's statement form.

The defense attorney said, "They have the same handwriting, the same indentation on the first line, each sentence forms a paragraph, and the sentence-ending particle 'da' is written on the next line, all very similar."

They also pointed out that the statements of Mr. B and the witness about the meeting on April 5, 2022, almost matched.

The witness explained, "We might have talked about what was said that day, but we did not discuss or coordinate opinions," adding, "Since we experienced the same event at the same place, the content could naturally match."

When asked if he had ever heard Mr. B tell Mr. A that he would run in the primary, the witness said, "I have never heard that," and added, "On April 4, 2022, at a meeting with Mr. A and Mr. B, Mr. B arrived a bit late and said he was late preparing candidacy documents, so I really thought he was running."

He continued, "Mr. A and Mr. B talked about the economic advisor position and accepting Mr. B's supporters, but the next day, with then-candidate Hong, a completely different story came up that Mr. B would be in charge of youth entrepreneurship and accept Mr. B's supporters, which surprised me," emphasizing, "It is true that Mr. A told Mr. B that if he helped with the election, he could become an economic advisor and if he worked hard, he could get a better position."

On this day, the witness gave somewhat different answers from previous testimonies, leading to content verification questions from both the prosecution and defense attorneys.

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