Suwon Mayor Lee Jae-jun faces ‘illegal party member recruitment’ allegations... Police conduct surprise raid on Democratic Party’s Gyeonggi Provincial chapter

[Financial News] Police investigating allegations that Suwon Mayor Lee Jae-jun of Gyeonggi Province illegally recruited party members with voting rights during the 9th Nationwide Simultaneous Local Elections (the June 3 local elections) launched an intensive compulsory investigation of the Gyeonggi Provincial chapter of the Democratic Party of Korea.
The Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Investigation Unit of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency sent investigators to the Democratic Party of Korea’s Gyeonggi Provincial chapter office in Paldal-gu, Suwon, and executed a search-and-seizure warrant from around 9 a.m. until around 9:30 p.m. on the 7th, a period of about 12 hours.
Police were reported to have secured a large volume of digital data that day, including party membership lists, documents related to joining the party and computer hard drives. Police said there were no notable incidents, such as physical clashes, during the execution of the warrant, but the compulsory investigation took a long time because the seized materials had to be examined carefully.
The search was conducted to establish whether the mayor’s camp had illegally recruited party members with voting rights in preparation for the party primary ahead of the June 3 local elections. In March, police received a complaint from a third party alleging that a political appointee at Suwon City Hall identified as A had illegally recruited party members to help the mayor win reelection.
After launching the investigation, police searched offices at Suwon City Hall where A works on two occasions, in May and June, and seized a mobile phone and related materials. The mayor passed the party primary in April and was selected as the final candidate, then won reelection in the June 3 local elections.
A police official said, “As the investigation is ongoing, we cannot disclose the specific items seized or details of its progress,” adding, “We plan to continue questioning those involved as soon as we finish analyzing the seized materials.”
Meanwhile, in addition to the case involving the alleged illegal recruitment of party members with voting rights, the mayor has also been reported to police and is under investigation over allegations that he steered city-commissioned service contracts to a particular organization that helped with the election campaign.
[email protected] Park Ji-hyun Reporter