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Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon speaks to a reporter at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office in southern Seoul on Oct. 2, 2021, before being questioned by prosecutors about allegations of his election law violation. (Yonhap) |
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon was summoned by prosecutors on Saturday for questioning about allegations that he spread false information during his mayoral by-election campaign in April.
Oh arrived at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office around 10 a.m. before being grilled as a suspect about his remarks on a scandal-plagued development project called Pi-City in southern Seoul.
"I'm very sorry to the people for being investigated like this. I'll make statements confidently and wait for the results," Oh told reporters before entering the prosecution office.'
Oh, affiliated with the main opposition People Power Party, won a landslide victory against the ruling Democratic Party's candidate in the April 7 mayoral by-election. Oh had previously served as the mayor of Seoul from 2006 to 2011.
In a TV debate held prior to the by-election, Oh said that the Pi-City case had nothing to do with his previous mayoral term. But a group of civic activists filed a complaint with police accusing Oh of lying about his suspected involvement in the project in violation of the election law.
Police had conducted an extensive investigation into the authenticity of Oh's remarks before transferring the case to the prosecution on Sept. 24.
Police suspect Oh was involved in the approval of the Pi-City project, as the relevant city planning and construction deliberations were passed during his previous mayoral term.
The Pi-City project was approved by the Seoul government in 2009 to build a logistics complex and retail and business facilities on a 99,000-square-meter lot in Yangjae-dong, southern Seoul, but was eventually halted after being tainted by allegations of various irregularities. (Yonhap)
