Ex-police commissioner elected on prosecution reform pledge

Hwang Un-hah, the former commissioner of the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency who is standing trial on power abuse charges, won a parliamentary seat in his hometown of Daejeon in Wednesday’s general elections.

Winning the race by a narrow margin against a conservative United Future Party rival, Hwang grabbed a seat on the ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s ticket to represent the conservative-leaning Jung-gu constituency of Daejeon.

Hwang is an outspoken critic of the prosecution and had made prosecution reform a cornerstone of his agenda, saying the prosecution is left outside of democratic checks and balances.

At court, he is fighting accusations that he launched a police probe under a directive from the presidential office to tip the 2018 Ulsan mayoral election in President Moon’s favor. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoings, saying that prosecutors framed him in the scandal.

In November last year, Hwang had asked police to honorably discharge him. The police rejected the request, citing the ongoing power abuse investigation and a month later named him to head one of its training institutes.

By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)