Former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo, who announced his retirement from politics in April of last year, has appeared at the Daegu District Court as the defense attorney for close aides facing arrest warrants over allegations of illegal political fund expenditures.

This marks his return to the public eye about a year and six months after stepping away from front-line politics following his elimination from the People Power Party presidential primary.

Former Mayor Hong arrived at the Daegu District Court dressed in a suit at around 10:04 a.m. today (October 27) and stood before reporters.

When asked by reporters why he decided to take on the defense himself, Hong replied, "They are my staff," adding, "They were people who worked for me."

Regarding the suspicions surrounding him, including the alleged "proxy payment of Myung Tae-kyun's opinion poll costs," he explained, "This is a separate case unrelated to the current matter."

When reporters asked additional questions, Hong said, "You must have many questions," and added, "I will answer reporters in the press room after the hearing concludes."

Wearing a faint smile throughout his Q&A with reporters, Hong spoke with them for about two minutes before heading to the warrant hearing room.

Former Mayor Hong attended the pre-arrest suspect interrogation for his close aides as their defense counsel, which began at 10:30 a.m. at the Daegu District Court.

The subjects of the interrogation are Park, the head of an election service agency, and Kim, the head of accounting for the election campaign.

This warrant review was conducted regarding allegations of illegal political fund expenditures by Hong's election campaign during the 2021 People Power Party presidential primary.

Police secured circumstances indicating that Park and campaign accounting head Kim conspired to illegally spend campaign political funds.

The two are also suspected of submitting accounting reports containing false supporting documents to the National Election Commission after the presidential primary concluded.

Among them, Park is a junior of Choi, a friend of former Mayor Hong's son, and is also suspected of having paid Mirae Korea Research Institute—operated practically by Myung Tae-kyun—on behalf of Hong for opinion poll costs related to him.

Park was hired as a fixed-term public official by the Daegu Metropolitan Government after former Mayor Hong was elected Daegu mayor.

He later resigned after controversy erupted and has denied all allegations raised against him.

Previously, police investigated four individuals including former Mayor Hong and Park, who had been reported by a civic group over the alleged proxy payment of opinion poll costs, and transferred the entire case to a special counsel in July of last year.

After taking the case back in March of this year, they conducted searches and seizures targeting the suspects.

During this process, they additionally identified criminal charges separate from the initial reported case.

Police plan to formulate follow-up response measures based on the results of the warrant review and continue their investigation into former Mayor Hong and others.

Former Mayor Hong maintains his stance that he has no connection to the suspicions involving Myung Tae-kyun.


In a Facebook post yesterday (October 26), former Mayor Hong stated regarding the investigation, "From my perspective, this looks like an excessive investigation. Since the statute of limitations for this case is reportedly set to expire on November 19, and they are even targeting me, who has retired from politics, I inevitably had no choice but to step forward myself."

He also denied related suspicions, stating, "I have never met Myung Tae-kyun personally, nor have I ever commissioned him to conduct opinion polls."

Whether or not Park and Kim will be detained is expected to be decided as early as late this afternoon.

(Photo: Captured from Hong Joon-pyo's Facebook, Yonhap News)