Kangseon Lee, Seocheon County Council Member, Files Election Commission Complaint Against County Governor Candidate Kiwung Kim

"County Budget is 750 Billion Won, but '1 Trillion Won Era' Claim is Exaggerated"

Lee Kangseon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and Seocho County Councilor, held a press conference on the 27th and announced that he reported Kim Kiwoong, the People Power Party's candidate for Seocho County Governor, to the Chungnam Election Commission for allegedly spreading false information.

Ahead of the June 3 local elections, Kangseon Lee, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and Seocheon County Council in South Chungcheong Province, on May 27 raised allegations of false statement disclosure and government involvement in the election against Kiwung Kim, the People Power Party candidate running for re-election as county governor.

On this day, Assemblyman Lee held an emergency press conference at the campaign headquarters of Democratic Party candidate Seungkwang Yoo and announced, "I have filed a complaint with the Chungnam Provincial Election Commission against candidate Kim for alleged violations of the Public Official Election Act, including the disclosure of false information."

He went on to say, "The future of Seocheon cannot be built on judicial risks and falsehoods," and focused on raising issues surrounding candidate Kim, including his '1 trillion won budget' publicity, prosecution referral, and suspicions of government involvement in the election.

Assemblyman Lee took issue with candidate Kim’s election campaign claim of ushering in a '1 trillion won era for the county budget.'

He stated, "The main budget for Seocheon County for 2026 is about 744.7 billion won, and even including the supplementary budget, it amounts to only about 750 billion won," arguing, "Candidate Kim combined state-led projects, provincial projects, and budgets for national institutions such as the National Institute of Ecology and the National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korea, and promoted them as though they were the county’s own budget."

He then released a promotional video of candidate Kim that had been circulated in group chat rooms among voters on KakaoTalk, stating, "In the video, candidate Kim declared, without any special qualifiers, 'I turned the county budget, which used to be 600 billion won, into the 1 trillion won era.' This is a false statement disclosure that misleads residents into believing this as his own achievement."

He further pointed out, "Even internal documents of Seocheon County distinguish between the main budget and external funds, but intentionally mixing these for promotional purposes is a clear distortion," raising the possibility of a violation of Article 250 of the Public Official Election Act.

Assemblyman Lee also revisited the so-called 'judicial risk' issue surrounding candidate Kim.

He stated, "In February, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Unit of the Chungnam Provincial Police Agency sent candidate Kim and his spouse to the prosecution with a recommendation for indictment on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act," adding, "The case involved more than 80 public officials and company personnel being provided with food worth about 1.8 million won. The investigation has been ongoing for a year and five months since the election commission filed the complaint."

He further criticized, "If a fine of 1 million won or more is confirmed, the election result would be invalidated and a costly by-election would be triggered. The resulting administrative vacuum would ultimately harm the residents of the county."

Assemblyman Lee also raised suspicions of government involvement in the election, citing the recent policy agreement process with the irregular workers’ union. He claimed, "An active public official from the Autonomous Administration Division of Seocheon County Hall was found to have led the delivery of a response letter favorable to a specific candidate’s side."

He concluded by presenting public queries regarding: ▲candidate Kim’s position on the prosecution referral charges, ▲whether he would resign if indicted, and ▲whether he intends to correct the '1 trillion won budget' claim, urging an official response from Kim's campaign.

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