Prosecutors Summon Song Byeong-gi for Second Day Over 'Election Interference Allegations'

Song Byeong-gi, Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of Ulsan City, who is suspected of Blue House-directed investigation and election interference, is leaving the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 13th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] The prosecution, investigating allegations of Blue House-directed investigations and election interference, summoned Song Byung-gi, Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of Ulsan City, for questioning on the 22nd. Song was also summoned by the prosecution the previous day.

According to the legal community on the 22nd, the Public Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Tae-eun) sent prosecutors and investigators to the Ulsan District Prosecutors' Office on the previous day and the 22nd to summon former Deputy Mayor Song as a suspect and conduct an investigation.

The prosecution also questioned former Deputy Mayor Song on the 13th. This was the first investigation since a detention warrant for him was rejected on December 31 of last year.

The prosecution dispatched an investigation team to the Ulsan District Prosecutors' Office on December 19 and 20 last year to conduct related investigations. At that time, former Deputy Mayor Song, former Democratic Party Supreme Council member Lim Dong-ho, Ulsan city officials, and police officers from the Ulsan Metropolitan Police Agency were summoned to the Ulsan District Prosecutors' Office. Based on the investigation contents up to this day, the prosecution plans to review whether to reapply for a detention warrant against Deputy Mayor Song.

Deputy Mayor Song is accused of conspiring with Blue House personnel to discuss election strategies and pledges to ensure the election of Song Cheol-ho as Ulsan mayor ahead of the June 13, 2018 local elections, violating the Public Official Election Act. In October 2017, Song delivered suspicions of corruption involving Park Ki-sung, Chief Secretary, and associates of former Ulsan Mayor Kim Ki-hyun to Moon, an administrative officer at the Blue House's Civil Affairs Office.

The prosecution regards the police investigation around former Ulsan Mayor Kim Ki-hyun, triggered by Deputy Mayor Song's tip-off, as illegal election interference. They suspect that Deputy Mayor Song systematically intervened in last year's election alongside the Blue House to ensure Mayor Song's victory. The Blue House's assistance in establishing Mayor Song's pledges, such as the plan to build a public hospital in Ulsan ahead of the 2018 local elections, is also seen as a violation of civil servants' duty of political neutrality.

The prosecution is also coordinating investigation schedules for former Presidential Chief of Staff Lim Jong-seok and former Ulsan Metropolitan Police Agency Chief Hwang Un-ha. Both Lim and Hwang have reportedly not complied with the prosecution's summons due to personal schedules. Regarding this, a prosecution official stated, "They did not appear on the summoned date immediately. We are continuously coordinating the schedule."