Controversy Over Delivery of 'Kang In-gyu Friendly Articles' Newspaper by Naju City Officials to Each Department

Candidate Yoon Byung-tae's Camp "Electioneering Conducted... Reported for Election Law Violation"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yukbong] A Naju City Hall employee is causing controversy by circulating a newspaper while visiting 22 departments.

It is not an ordinary newspaper, but one with a front-page headline article titled "Candidate Kang In-gyu's Lead Beyond the Margin of Error."

According to Naju City on the 24th, that morning, a public relations team employee at City Hall delivered newspapers published by a local media outlet to each department. A total of 25 copies were distributed, of which 22 were paid copies and the rest were extras.

The problem is that three out of the four articles on the front page of the newspaper were favorable to candidate Kang.

It is known that the editor-in-chief A of the media company handed over 25 copies of the newspaper to public relations team employee B around 4:30 p.m. the previous day, asking him to deliver them to each department head.

B then passed them to team member C, who early that morning delivered the newspapers to each department.

Given this situation, Yoon Byung-tae, a competitor in the June 1 local elections, accused the public official of violating political neutrality and turning this into an election influenced by government power, filing a complaint with the Naju City Election Commission against the official.

Yoon’s side issued a statement that day saying, "A public official is distributing a newspaper containing articles favorable to an independent candidate without maintaining political neutrality, damaging democracy."

They added, "There is a high possibility of violations of the Public Official Election Act and the Public Officials Act. We ask citizens to protest against the government-influenced election by public officials," and appealed, "Please break the chain of suffering caused by the previous mayor’s incompetent and corrupt administration solely through voting."

In response, A stated, "We finalized the layout at 2 p.m. on Monday, completed printing at 4 p.m., and went to the post office, but since the newspaper mailing schedule was delayed due to election bulletin mailings, I asked the public relations office staff to distribute the newspapers."

Also, B explained, "The public relations team managing the media could not refuse the media company’s request, and I sincerely apologize for causing misunderstandings."

Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yukbong bong2910@asiae.co.kr