野 "Election Commission Decides Kim Eun-hye's Asset Report 'False'... Urges Candidate to Resign"

Election Commission Accepts Objection on the Day
Democrats Hold Press Conference Urging Candidate to Withdraw

On the 30th, at the National Assembly Communication Office in Yeouido, Seoul, Jeong Seong-ho, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, and others held an urgent press conference urging the withdrawal of Kim Eun-hye, the People Power Party candidate for Gyeonggi Province governor, regarding the Election Commission's decision on her false asset underreporting. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] The Democratic Party of Korea has called for the resignation of Kim Eun-hye, the People Power Party candidate for Gyeonggi Province governor, after the National Election Commission ruled that her property declaration did not correspond to the facts.

Democratic Party lawmakers from Gyeonggi Province, including Jeong Seong-ho, Park Jeong, Baek Hye-ryeon, Kim Min-cheol, Lee Tan-hee, Min Byung-duk, Lim Oh-kyung, and Hong Jeong-min, held a press conference at the National Assembly Communication Office on the afternoon of the 30th, stating, "Notices stating that Kim’s declared property report was false will be posted at all polling stations in the 31 cities and counties of Gyeonggi Province."

Earlier, Kim was suspected of underreporting the value of the Dabong Building in Daechi-dong, in which her spouse holds shares, by about 1.5 billion KRW, declaring it as 15.86785 billion KRW instead of the actual 17.36194 billion KRW, and also omitting approximately 100 million KRW worth of securities from her property declaration.

The Democratic Party submitted an objection to the Gyeonggi Province Election Commission on the 25th and filed a complaint against Kim the following day, the 26th, for false statement under the Public Official Election Act.

The Election Commission announced that "the asset amounts in the ‘spouse’ and ‘total’ sections of the candidate’s disclosed property information were understated (underreported) and do not correspond to the facts."

The Commission explained that the ‘spouse’ property amount should be recorded as 22.743946 billion KRW instead of 21.126168 billion KRW, and the ‘total’ property amount should be recorded as 24.149617 billion KRW instead of 22.531839 billion KRW.

Lawmaker Jeong Seong-ho said, "With today’s decision by the Election Commission, it is clear that Kim will be subject to investigation for violating the Public Official Election Act," and urged, "She should immediately apologize to the people of Gyeonggi Province and step down from her candidacy for governor."

After the press conference, Lawmaker Baek Hye-ryeon told reporters, "She declared the same property for three years," adding, "Since the official land prices change every year, declaring the same amount for three years without any variation can be seen as intentional."

Lawmaker Lee Yong-woo also directly criticized, "The stock market was booming last year and the year before, so there were significant changes," and said, "Omitting or underreporting that entirely can only be seen as intentional."