Criminal records, old controversies dog local election candidates

With about a month left until South Korea’s June 3 local elections, candidates from rival parties are facing scrutiny over past criminal records, controversial remarks and old cases that have resurfaced during the nomination process.

A total of 8,377 people have registered as preliminary candidates for local posts across the country, with official candidate registration scheduled for May 14 and 15.

The controversies span both the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the main opposition People Power Party, raising questions over how much weight voters will give to candidates’ records in local races.

Hong Deok-hee, the People Power Party candidate for head of Guro-gu in Seoul, came under fire after information surfaced regarding his representation of Lee Eun-hae.

Lee was convicted of murdering her husband in 2019 in a life insurance scheme, for which she was handed a life sentence by the Supreme Court in 2023.

Hong apologized at a press conference on April 24, saying he would be more mindful of public sentiment as a candidate for public office. He also defended his legal work, saying every defendant is entitled to the constitutional right to counsel.

The People Power Party confirmed Hong’s nomination on Monday, saying he had sufficiently explained his position to the party.

In Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, Democratic Party candidate Chun Young-mi faced criticism after referring to President Lee Jae Myung’s past drunk-driving conviction while defending her own record.

Chun, a three-term Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly member running for Ansan mayor, said on April 11 that she had one drunk-driving conviction.

“President Lee Jae Myung has the same record, and did you not vote for him?” she said.

Lee was fined 1.5 million won ($1,000) for drunk driving in 2007 and has publicly apologized for the offense.

Chun later apologized to Ansan residents and Democratic Party members, saying drunk driving was not a light matter and that she regretted her wrongdoing.

In Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, Park Jin-su, an incumbent city council member from the People Power Party, faced criticism after being nominated to seek another term despite past drug convictions.

Rivals in the nomination process argued that his nomination violated People Power Party rules, which list drug crimes, along with murder, robbery, arson and kidnapping, as grounds for disqualification.

Park was convicted of violating the Narcotics Control Act in 1998 and 2011. He was sentenced each time to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years, and fined 5 million won.

Park apologized and asked voters to consider that the offenses were old and that he had been elected to the city council in 2018 and 2022 after disclosing his record.

Chung Won-o, a Democratic Party politician considered a potential Seoul mayoral contender, has also faced questions over a decades-old assault case.

In 1995, when Chung was 27 and working at the Yangcheon-gu district office in Seoul, he was fined 3 million won for assaulting a lawmaker’s secretary and police officers who arrived at the scene.

Chung said in December that he had taken the incident as a lesson and had apologized to those involved.

The case drew attention late last year, but recent polls have shown Chung as a strong contender against incumbent Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon.

Under the Public Official Election Act, candidates are required to submit their criminal records when running for public office. Information on candidates, including criminal records, is made available through the National Election Commission.

Election law and political funding violations can also affect eligibility. A person fined 1 million won or more for such offenses is barred from holding public office for five years. Those sentenced to prison terms face a 10-year restriction after release.

As of Tuesday, 29 of the 67 registered candidates for leadership posts in South Korea’s 17 metropolitan cities and provinces, or 43.2 percent, had criminal records.

The final figure could change, as some major contenders had yet to complete official registration.

In Incheon, incumbent Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok of the People Power Party does not have a criminal record but is currently on trial over alleged election law violations. He is accused of engaging in unlawful campaigning while seeking the People Power Party’s presidential nomination in 2025.

Yoo requested that the trial be postponed until after the June 3 elections, but the court decided to hold the first hearing on May 15. A ruling is expected after the election.

His main rival, Democratic Party candidate Park Chan-dae, has no criminal record. But his wife was fined 800,000 won for violating the election law during Park’s 2016 National Assembly campaign after handing out his business cards in public and urging support for him.

The fine did not affect Park’s parliamentary seat because it was below the 3 million won threshold for a candidate’s spouse that can invalidate an election victory.

President Lee Jae Myung’s past convictions did not prevent him from winning last year’s presidential election.

But with local races often shaped by candidate image and party loyalty, it remains unclear how much voters will punish or overlook the records of contenders on the ballot this June.