Prosecutors Reinvestigate Im Jong-seok and Cho Kuk over Alleged Interference in Ulsan Mayoral Election

Seoul High Prosecutors' Office: "Additional Investigation Needed on Ulsan Police's Directed Investigation and Ulsan Mayor Candidate Bribery"

The prosecution has decided to reopen the investigation into former Presidential Chief of Staff Im Jong-seok and former Blue House Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Cho Kuk in connection with allegations of interference in the Ulsan mayoral election.

On the 18th, the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office announced that it deemed additional investigation necessary regarding the 'Ulsan Police Agency's directed investigation and bribery charges against the Ulsan mayoral candidate,' and ordered a reinvestigation of former Chief Im, former Senior Secretary Cho, former Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Lee Kwang-cheol, former Ulsan Mayor Song Cheol-ho, and former Ulsan Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs Song Byung-gi.

The Seoul High Prosecutors' Office explained that it thoroughly reviewed existing investigation records, trial records, and the Seoul Central District Court ruling from last November concerning the appeal related to the abuse of power in the Ulsan mayoral election interference case.

Initially, the prosecution believed there was circumstantial evidence that former Chief Im and former Senior Secretary Cho had persuaded internal party competitors to withdraw their candidacies to ensure former Mayor Song's election, but due to insufficient evidence to prove the charges, they were not indicted in April 2021.

However, when the court delivered the first-instance ruling on the Ulsan mayoral election interference case last November, it effectively acknowledged that the Blue House had systematically intervened to secure former Mayor Song's election, sentencing all defendants affiliated with the Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Office, and explicitly stated the charges against former Chief Im and former Minister Cho in the judgment.

The court at the time judged that "former Blue House Anti-Corruption Secretary Park Hyung-cheol ensured that police investigation status reports, which were reported to the Anti-Corruption Office, were also reported to Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Baek Won-woo and Senior Secretary Cho Kuk." Regarding the 'bribery of competing candidates' charge, it also recognized the fact that "Im Dong-ho (a competitor of former Mayor Song) told then-Chief Im Jong-seok at a 2017 Democratic Party 86 class meeting that if he became a Supreme Council member of the Democratic Party, he wanted to be appointed as the Consul General in Osaka."

Following this ruling, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office assigned the case, in which the Committee for the Protection of the Common People and Livelihoods accused former Chief Im and former Senior Secretary Cho of violating the Public Official Election Act and abuse of power, to the Public Investigation Division 2 (Chief Prosecutor Jeong Won-du).