Ulsan Election-Law Violation Investigations Gain Momentum; Superintendent of Education Cho Yong-sik Cleared

[Financial News | Ulsan—Choi Su-sang, reporter] Police investigations into election-law violation cases related to the June 3 local elections in Ulsan are gaining momentum.
The Ulsan Metropolitan Police Agency announced on the 2nd that it had concluded there was no wrongdoing and decided not to refer the case to prosecutors involving Cho Yong-sik, the Ulsan superintendent of education, who was reported over allegations that he exaggerated his credentials in campaign materials during the June 3 local elections.
During the superintendent of education election, the camp of rival candidate Kim Ju-hong filed a complaint against Cho Yong-sik for allegedly violating the Public Official Election Act and the Local Education Autonomy Act.
The main allegations were that phrases in Cho's campaign materials, including "No. 1 in announcing the superintendent's election pledges" and "25 years as a field teacher," exaggerated his credentials. The complaint also claimed that the notation "1" was intended to influence voters by evoking the ballot number of a specific political party.
However, the police investigation concluded that there was no wrongdoing. Investigators determined that the expressions were generally consistent with the facts and that there was no specific intent behind them.
Including this case, a total of 84 complaints and accusations related to this year's local elections have been filed in Ulsan. As of the end of the intensive investigation period for election offenders, police had made referral or non-referral decisions in 57 cases, or 67.9%. The remaining 27 cases are still under investigation.
The three elected officials in Ulsan who were reported for alleged violations of the Public Official Election Act related to the June 3 local elections are Cho, whose case was cleared that day, Kim Sang-wook, the Mayor of Ulsan, and Im Hyun Chul, the Mayor of Nam District.
Police investigations into Mayor Kim and Mayor Im are continuing. Since the statute of limitations for prosecution of election-law violation cases related to the June 3 local elections expires on December 3 this year, the investigations are expected to accelerate.
Kim is reportedly under investigation over allegations that he was involved in prostitution in the Philippines, separately attempted to hush up that allegation, and spread false information by claiming that certain forces may have interfered in an opinion poll during the process of unifying candidates within the progressive camp.
Regarding these complaints, Mayor Kim has repeatedly described them as "provocation and speculation."
Mayor Im is accused of omitting debts from his election campaign materials and other documents when reporting his assets. Im, who explained that the debt arose from jointly guaranteeing a corporate loan, has maintained that "it was an inadvertent error with no intent."
[email protected] Choi Su-sang Reporter