People Power Party's Busan chapter files complaint against Mayor Jeon over false claims

The People Power Party's Busan chapter filed a complaint Monday with police and the National Election Commission against Busan Mayor Jeon Jae-soo on charges of publishing false information under Article 250 of the Public Official Election Act.

Rep. Seo Ji-young of the PPP, who represents Dongnae-gu in Busan, held a press conference at the National Assembly that morning, saying statements Jeon made during the recent local elections — when he was still a candidate — constituted false claims. Jeon had said that during his tenure as minister of oceans and fisheries, he had secured a budget increase for reconstructing Sajik Baseball Stadium, completed a review for building a covered "sea dome" baseball stadium at the North Port, and held consultations with relevant agencies on the project. Seo said the party confirmed these claims were false through three rounds of oral questioning at the National Assembly's Budget and Accounts Committee and through written responses submitted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Busan Port Authority.

On the budget increase for Sajik Baseball Stadium's reconstruction, the Busan chapter said the culture minister responded that he had no particular recollection of any such request from Jeon, and that the ministry confirmed this in writing as well.

The Busan chapter also pointed to an apparent contradiction in Jeon's positions. While he emphasized having increased the reconstruction budget for Sajik Baseball Stadium, his actual campaign pledge called for demolishing the stadium, converting the site into a community sports facility and building a new sea dome ballpark instead. The party said Jeon owes the public a credible explanation for why he claims to have simultaneously pursued two mutually incompatible projects, and why he sought to demolish Sajik Stadium even after national budget funding for its reconstruction had reportedly been secured.

The party added that both the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Busan Port Authority — the agencies that would have been the subjects and counterparts of any review or consultation on the sea dome ballpark — categorically confirmed that no review, report or consultation of any kind took place during Jeon's tenure as minister, and that no documents were ever created.

Seo said the acting secretary-general of the National Election Commission told the Budget and Accounts Committee that statements made with the intent to win or help win an election are subject to punishment under Article 250 of the election law if found to be false, signaling potential political and legal consequences for Jeon.

Seo also noted that while Jeon had emphasized his background as a former minister throughout the campaign, he served for only four months and 18 days before resigning in disgrace amid charges of receiving money from the Unification Church. She pressed Jeon to answer — not in words but in records and documents — with whom at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Busan Port Authority he had conducted any review or consultation during his time as minister.

Seo then urged police and the National Election Commission to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation, staking their institutional credibility on determining whether the claims Jeon made about actions he took as minister were true — or whether he became Busan's mayor on the strength of lies about things he never actually did.