Gwangju Nam-gu Sends Holiday Gifts Under Mayor's Name... Election Commission Issues Administrative Action

Exterior view of Gwangju Nam-gu Office.

Gwangju Nam-gu, which sent Chuseok holiday gifts to on-site district office employees under the name of District Mayor Kim Byungnae, has received an administrative measure from the Election Commission.

According to the Gwangju City Election Commission and Nam-gu on November 19, the district election commission issued an administrative action against Nam-gu, which sparked controversy over a violation of the Public Official Election Act.

The district election commission determined that although Nam-gu's act of sending holiday gifts to on-site employees under Mayor Kim's name did violate the election law, it did not warrant a criminal referral or prosecution.

Prior to the recent Chuseok holiday, Nam-gu delivered sets of Tteokgalbi under Mayor Kim's name to 118 people, including security guards and sanitation workers.

There were concerns that providing holiday gifts at the institutional level under the personal name of the district mayor could constitute an act of donation or preliminary electioneering under the Public Official Election Act.

Upon confirming that the gifts were distributed under the mayor's name, Nam-gu determined this was inappropriate and retrieved some of the gifts.

In relation to this, the election commission took administrative action after verifying the facts.

An official from the election commission stated, "Considering the degree of violation, we determined that criminal action was not warranted, so we issued an administrative notice to Nam-gu to inform them of the violation."