[Breaking] Controversy Over Delayed Action on Illegal Promotional Structure for Kim Byungnae in Gwangju Nam-gu

One-Month Correction Period Raises Questions Over Effectiveness
Lack of Enforcement Undermines Impact

The office of Kim Byungnae, the prospective candidate for Mayor of Gwangju Nam-gu, which is embroiled in controversy over illegality. Photo provided by reader

In the 6·3 local elections, controversy has arisen over the effectiveness of the authorities' delayed response regarding the illegal rooftop promotional sign structure at the office of incumbent preliminary candidate Kim Byungnae, who is seeking a third consecutive term.

According to Gwangju Nam-gu on the 24th, the district office issued a voluntary removal corrective order the previous day for the promotional structure installed on the rooftop of the campaign office of Kim Byungnae, preliminary candidate for Nam-gu mayor. The structure was erected on the 15th and was found to have violated the Outdoor Advertising Act by exceeding the mandatory reporting height of 4 meters and being installed on a building with fewer than five floors, contrary to the regulations.

However, Nam-gu only became aware of the violation a week later, on the previous day, and after completing a review of the law, sent an official corrective order to Kim's campaign requesting voluntary removal.

The issue is that while the Democratic Party's primary is scheduled to take place within one to two weeks, the corrective period is set for one month. This means the illegal structure could be used for election promotion for the maximum possible duration until the demolition deadline.

Until now, Nam-gu had considered the facility to be an election-related promotional material and therefore under the jurisdiction of the election commission, so no separate verification had been conducted.

A Nam-gu official stated, "The structure was not reported to the district office prior to installation, which is why we recognized the violation belatedly," and added, "We issued the corrective order as soon as the violation was confirmed."

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