Kim Kwang-jin, Gwangju Seo-gu Eul Democratic Party Preliminary Candidate, Faces Controversy Over Name Misuse in Endorsement Declaration

Press Release Distributed: 20 Current and Former Student Council Leaders from Gwangju and Jeonnam Support Kim Kwangjin

Two Among Them Claim "Never Agreed to Support Declaration"... Controversy Over False Information Disclosure

Kim Kwangjin's

As the 22nd National Assembly election scheduled for April 10 approaches, the Gwangju Metropolitan City Seo-gu (Eul) preliminary candidate Kim Kwang-jin's election office of the Democratic Party of Korea has caused a stir in the region after allegations arose that the name was misused in a support declaration press release issued by the office.

Beyond criticism for simply issuing the press release without proper verification, claims of violations of the Public Official Election Act have also been raised.

On the 2nd, Kim Kwang-jin's preliminary candidate election office distributed a press release to the media titled "Support Declaration for Candidate Kim Kwang-jin by 20 Current and Former Student Council Executives from Gwangju and Jeonnam."

The press release mentioned the real names of four individuals, but two of them issued a statement saying they never agreed to the support declaration for candidate Kim Kwang-jin.

They stated, "We ask candidate Kim Kwang-jin to explain how a support declaration unknown to us was announced to the media and posted on SNS under our names without our consent," adding, "Please provide a detailed explanation of how our names were included in the support declaration, which member of the campaign was involved, and why there has been silence regarding the request for a correction. We strongly request appropriate measures be taken."

In response to the situation, candidate Kim's campaign redistributed the press release with the real names removed but did not make any further statements.

A representative from Kim's election office said, "We received the list of support declarations from a person who visited the campaign office for the support declaration, and based on that, we prepared and distributed the press release," adding, "We will verify the issue regarding consent confirmation."

If it is true that the list of individuals who did not consent was used, it seems difficult to avoid violating the Public Official Election Act. Article 250 of the Public Official Election Act stipulates that "Anyone who publicly announces or causes to be announced false facts regarding support or opposition from a specific person or organization shall be punished by imprisonment for up to five years or a fine of up to 30 million won."

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