Police transfer Yongin Mayor Lee Sang-il to Public Prosecution Office on suspicion of publishing false information

Promoting the unenacted bus fare support ordinance… Mayor Lee “stated his intention to implement it in the future”

(Yongin = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Ji-won = Mayor Lee Sang-il of Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, was handed over to the Public Prosecution Office on charges of falsely promoting an ordinance that had not been enacted during the June 3 local elections.

Mayor Lee refuted this, saying that it was presented as a pledge in the process of promoting the enactment of the ordinance.

Yongin Eastern Police Station announced that it had sent Mayor Lee to the Suwon Regional Public Prosecution Office without detention on the 13th on charges of publishing false facts under the Public Official Election Act.

Mayor Lee is accused of promoting the 'bus fare support ordinance for seniors over 70', which had not been enacted ahead of the local elections, by listing it in election materials as if it had been enacted.

Previously, on June 1 of this year, four members of the National Assembly from the Yongin area, including Representative Lee Eon-ju of the Democratic Party of Korea, reported to the police that Mayor Lee had promoted the Dongcheon Eonnam Line route, which was not included in the Gyeonggi-do urban rail network construction plan, as if it had been reflected in the ordinance as well as whether or not the ordinance was enacted.

The police judged that only the charges related to the bus fare support ordinance for the elderly were acceptable among the complaints and decided not to forward the charges related to the Dongcheon Eonnam Line. The specific reason for non-delivery was not disclosed.

Regarding this, Mayor Lee explained, "We have been proceeding with the procedures for enactment, including completing the legislative notice of the ordinance in March before the election," and "The expression in question was also written in the pledge section, not the performance section, of the election announcement, and we have expressed our intention to finalize the process of enacting the ordinance in the 8th popular election and implement it in the 9th popular election."

He went on to say, “As this is a pledge to implement policies that have actually been pursued, we will explain this in future legal proceedings.”