Omission of 800 Million KRW Debt in Asset Declaration
Opposition Party Demands Prosecution by Election Commission
Election Commission Denies Allegations from Candidate's Side as "Inaccurate"
The National Election Commission announced on the 10th that at the polling station for the April 10 general election in Dongjak-gap, Seoul, the People Power Party candidate Jang Jin-young posted a notice stating that he "omitted 800 million won in debt from his election bulletin."
According to the property declaration submitted by candidate Jang to the Election Commission, he owns half of a forest land in Sinwon-ri, Yangseo-myeon, Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi Province. The value is 502.5 million won. This land has a mortgage lien of 960 million won set in 2020 by a small business with candidate Jang as the debtor. Since it is common to set the maximum claim amount at 120% of the loan principal, candidate Jang's debt is estimated to be 800 million won. However, the debt was not reported at all in his property declaration.
Earlier, the Democratic Party demanded that the Election Commission take legal action against candidate Jang for omitting the 800 million won loan from his declaration. Candidate Jang's side explained, "It is a business loan for Yangpyeong Comprehensive Development, not a personal debt, so we considered it outside the scope of personal debt." However, the Election Commission concluded that the property status disclosed by candidate Jang in the election bulletin did not correspond to the facts.
The Public Official Election Act stipulates that if anyone raises an objection to the Election Commission regarding false information in a candidate's election bulletin or posters, the Election Commission reviews the content and, if the objection is deemed valid, orders a public notice of the matter.
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