Disqualification Due to Omission of 'Illegal Political Funds' in Statement
[Asia Economy Reporter Na Yeeun] Former Gyeryong Mayor Lee Gi-won was found dead in Jeju.
According to the Seogwipo Police Station in Jeju on the 24th, former Gyeryong Mayor Lee Gi-won was found dead around 11 p.m. the previous day in a mountain area in Namwon-eup, Seogwipo City.
The former mayor had come to Jeju last week with his family to live for a month, and on the morning of the 23rd, he left his accommodation saying, "I am going out to ride a bicycle," after which contact was lost.
His family reported him missing to the police around 9 p.m. on the same day (23rd), and the police searched the area by checking closed-circuit television (CCTV) around the accommodation and found the deceased former mayor.
A police official stated, "It has been confirmed that the former mayor sent a text message to an employee he worked with shortly before his death, and we are investigating the contents."
The police believe that the former mayor took his own life due to dissatisfaction over recent issues such as losing his party nomination, and they are investigating the exact circumstances.
Previously, the former mayor had received the nomination as the People Power Party's preliminary candidate for Gyeryong mayor in the 8th nationwide simultaneous local elections. However, the People Power Party Chungnam Provincial Party Nomination Management Committee held a re-election on the 7th and changed the candidate to Lee Eung-woo, a professor of external cooperation at Paichai University, who ranked first.
The provincial nomination committee disqualified the former mayor on the grounds that he failed to disclose the fact that he was fined for receiving illegal political funds, thus falsifying his self-verification statement.
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