Police said on the 29th that they summoned and questioned Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok on suspicion of violating election law during the People Power Party presidential primary.
According to police, the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency's Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Unit summoned Mayor Yoo on the 27th on suspicion of violating the Public Official Election Act and abuse of authority and questioned him.
Incumbent and former Incheon city officials are suspected of accompanying or supporting then-People Power Party primary candidate Mayor Yoo in April while retaining their civil-servant status. The election law prohibits national and local public officials from campaigning during a party primary.
Earlier, the Incheon City Election Commission filed a complaint with prosecutors in May against Mayor Yoo and Incheon city officials. Prosecutors then booked Mayor Yoo and others, and on the 9th they searched and seized the mayor's office, the senior political affairs office, the senior public relations office, the public relations planning office, and the video editing room in the main Incheon City Hall building.
Police were said to have booked a total of 17 people in connection with the case and are investigating. Police are also investigating an abuse of authority allegation in relation to a civic group's complaint that public officials were mobilized to promote the People Power Party Governors and Mayors Council, which Mayor Yoo chaired last year.