CHANGWON — South Gyeongsang Province held an emergency briefing to push back after the provincial police agency summoned Governor Park Wan-su as a suspect and questioned him for 13 hours over allegations that his office abused public authority during the June 3 local elections, saying "the length of the questioning does not indicate the gravity of the allegations."
According to reporting by The Seoul Economic Daily on the 12th, police summoned Park on the 7th of this month and questioned him for 13 hours after opening a case against him on suspicion of violating the Public Official Election Act. Investigators have been handling the matter since May, when they merged a referral from the South Gyeongsang Election Commission with a complaint filed by the camp of Kim Kyoung-soo, then the Democratic Party candidate.
In August, police sought arrest warrants for four people, including campaign officials and current and former civil servants, on suspicion of producing deepfake videos and setting up facilities functioning as unauthorized campaign offices. The court rejected all of them. More recently, investigators searched the governor's secretariat and have been examining whether Park knew in advance about the unauthorized offices, or directed or condoned their operation. During the questioning, police are said to have focused on whether Park ordered or was aware of early campaigning and the setting up of the unauthorized offices.
Provincial spokesman Yoo Hae-nam addressed the matter in a briefing on the 12th. "The fact that he was questioned for a long time does not in itself mean the allegations are serious or that a crime was committed," Yoo said. "No decisive evidence was presented. The questioning dragged on because the same questions were repeated as investigators tried to tie together individual facts, circumstances and multiple statements into a single allegation."
"We will cooperate fully with a legitimate investigation, but investigative agencies must also conduct their work fairly and objectively, following only the law and principle," Yoo said. "We will make the province's position clear on any problems identified in the investigation going forward."
The South Gyeongsang chapter of the Progressive Party held a news conference the same day calling on Park to step down. "If a sitting governor mobilized the power of his office and the administrative apparatus for an election, that is a serious matter that undermined residents' right to vote," said Kim In-ae, the chapter's spokesperson.
"If the governor has a conscience, he must explain directly to residents why his campaign produced so many suspected violations of the election law and criminal cases," Kim said. "He should offer a full apology to the people of this province, take political responsibility and resign immediately."
Police plan to wrap up the investigation this month and refer the case to prosecutors. The provincial administration, which has just marked 100 days since the start of its ninth elected term, could be affected depending on whether Park and provincial officials are indicted.