Suwon Mayor Lee Jae-jun Suspected of 'Illegal Party Member Recruitment'...Six Arrested, Including Current Public Official

Six individuals, including a current public official, have been placed in a position to face arrest in connection with allegations of "illegal recruitment of party members with voting rights" involving Suwon Mayor Lee Jae-jun.

According to the Gyeonggi Southern Police Agency on the 9th, the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Investigation Division filed a warrant application for pre-arrest detention of six individuals, including current and former public officials in Suwon, on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act. The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office requested an arrest warrant from the court on the 5th.

The arrest warrant hearing (warrant substantive examination) for these individuals is scheduled to take place at Suwon District Court at 1:30 p.m. on the 10th. The decision on arrest is expected to be made as early as late afternoon on the same day.

They are suspected of illegally recruiting party members with voting rights to support Mayor Lee's re-election during the Democratic Party of Korea's primary for the Suwon mayoral candidate ahead of the 9th National Simultaneous Local Elections held on June 3rd.

The case began when a related complaint was filed with police in March. Kwon Hyuk-woo, then Democratic Party of Korea's preliminary candidate for Suwon mayor, also raised allegations of illegal recruitment of party members with voting rights by those close to Mayor Lee.

In May, police conducted a search of the Suwon City government building and offices of a political appointee to secure related materials including mobile phones.

On the 7th of last month, the Democratic Party of Korea's Gyeonggi Provincial Headquarters office was searched, securing computer data including member lists and membership application forms, and analyzing the connection with the allegations of illegal party member recruitment.

On the 18th of last month, it was confirmed that Mayor Lee was summoned for questioning in a closed session.

During the investigation, police are known to have moved to secure the custody of six individuals among multiple suspects whose allegations were determined to be relatively substantiated.

A police official stated, "Mayor Lee Jae-jun is not included in this arrest warrant target, but since the complaint was filed, he has not ceased to be a suspect. Because there is a statute of limitations, we will do our best in the remaining time."