Ministry of Justice Future Commission Adds 'Ulsan Mayoral Election Interference Investigation Under Moon Administration' to Fact-Finding Cases

Kim Hakui Emergency Travel Ban and Blue House Planned Investigation
Ulsan Mayoral Election Interference Case Also Selected for Fact-Finding Investigation

The Prosecution Human Rights and Future Commission (the Future Commission) under the Ministry of Justice, which was launched to investigate alleged abuse of prosecutorial investigative powers, has added the 'Ulsan mayoral election interference case under the Moon Jae-in administration' to the list of cases requiring a fact-finding investigation.

Yonhap News Agency

According to the legal community on August 14, the Future Commission notified Hwang Unha, a lawmaker from the Reform Party, the previous day that the 'Ulsan mayoral election interference case' has been selected as a case for fact-finding investigation. Depending on the results of the Future Commission’s deliberation, the Ministry of Justice plans to recommend a formal investigation by the fact-finding team within the month.

Previously, Assemblyman Hwang had submitted a proposal to the Future Commission requesting the case be designated for a fact-finding investigation. He argued that "a thorough investigation is needed to determine whether this case was a retaliatory investigation and prosecution targeting me for investigating the prosecution while I was a police officer."

Leading up to the June 13, 2018 local elections, allegations surfaced that the Blue House systematically intervened in the election to secure victory for Song Cheolho, former mayor and known as a long-time friend of former President Moon Jae-in. Prosecutors indicted Song and Assemblyman Hwang, who was then the Ulsan police chief, after concluding that Song lobbied Hwang to investigate then-Ulsan Mayor Kim Gi-hyeon, and that the Blue House's Civil Affairs Office was involved in directing the police investigation.

In the first trial in 2023, the court found most of the allegations credible and sentenced both Song and Hwang to three years in prison. However, in the second trial, the court reversed its ruling, stating that it did not accept the credibility of testimony that a request for an investigation had taken place, thus acquitting both defendants. Meanwhile, the former deputy mayor of Ulsan, who created intelligence reports using internal city materials, was sentenced to one year and two months in prison, suspended for two years.

In August last year, the Supreme Court affirmed that the appellate decision was correct, finding no procedural errors or omissions in the lower court’s judgment that would have impacted the verdict, thereby finalizing the acquittals. The Future Commission was established in June this year to clarify the facts of alleged human rights violations or abuses of authority by prosecutors and to recommend measures to prevent recurrence. The first round of fact-finding investigations includes seven cases: the Ssangbangwool remittance to North Korea case, the Daejang-dong case, the case involving former Deputy Director Kim Yong of the Institute for Democracy, the Wirye New Town case, the shooting of a public official in the West Sea, the statistics fabrication case, and the case concerning alleged false reporting related to defamation of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Subsequently, until July 18, the Future Commission solicited additional case proposals from the public. On July 30, it was announced that the cases of the 'Kim Hakui former Vice Minister emergency travel ban incident' and the 'Blue House planned investigation incident', jointly proposed by Lee Kyuwon, head of the Reform Party’s Wonju City Committee, and lawmaker Cha Kyugeun of the Reform Party, were selected for fact-finding investigation as well.

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