Reform Party Leadership Apologizes Over Alleged 'Staged Attack' by Former Busan Mayoral Candidate Jeong Yi-han

The leadership of the Reform Party has issued an apology following allegations that former Busan mayoral candidate Jeong Yi-han staged an attack against himself.

Party leader Lee Jun-seok and floor leader Cheon Ha-ram stated, "We apologize to the citizens of Busan," and promised to form a fact-finding committee to determine the truth.

They also announced that they would impose a permanent ban on the readmission of Jeong, who has since left the party, and will hold him accountable through both civil and criminal legal actions.

A Reform Party official told SBS, "We are also in the process of determining the exact amount of financial support provided to Jeong during the campaign period and will seek to recover those funds."

Some staff members who worked for the Reform Party and Jeong's campaign also maintained that they were completely unaware that the incident might have been staged.

One campaign official who was present during a police search on June 4, the day after the election, told SBS, "We cooperated with the search without knowing it was related to suspicions of a staged incident."

The police are continuing their investigation into whether the incident on April 27, in which a beverage was thrown at Jeong, was staged.

Jeong has been booked by the police on charges including obstruction of justice by deception.

It is reported that the police have secured records of phone calls made between Jeong and the man in his 30s who threw the beverage prior to the incident.

The police have reportedly uncovered circumstances suggesting that Jeong and the man in his 30s are acquaintances.

On April 27, while campaigning on a street in Geumjeong-gu, Busan, Jeong claimed he was the victim of a "beverage terror" attack and released photos of the scene to the press.

Jeong's side also released photos to the media showing him receiving treatment at an emergency room in a hospital in Busanjin-gu shortly after the incident.

The police had initially arrested the man in his 30s who threw the beverage at Jeong.

Jeong subsequently submitted a petition to the police requesting leniency for the man.

Jeong ran as the Reform Party's candidate for Busan mayor in the June 3 local elections, receiving 27,418 votes for a vote share of 1.56%.

Jeong did not respond to inquiries from SBS regarding the allegations that the incident was staged.

Reported by Park Chan-beom | Video by Lee Sang-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.