'I have done nothing wrong': Ulsan Mayor Kim Sang-uk appears before police for first time

Ulsan Mayor Kim Sang-uk appeared before police for the first time Sunday to face questioning over alleged violations of the Public Official Election Act and prostitution allegations, insisting he had done nothing wrong and that complaints against him had been filed indiscriminately.

Kim arrived at the Ulsan Metropolitan Police Agency at around 8 a.m. Sunday. Stepping out of a car in a dark navy jacket, white shirt and sneakers, he told reporters that "complaints have been filed indiscriminately even though I have not broken any law," adding that "various false rumors have spread, which I find personally very insulting, and it is causing confusion among citizens."

"I hope this police investigation becomes an opportunity to set those wrongs right," he said.

Kim also invoked past political controversies, saying the public would remember that allegations against former President Roh Moo-hyun involving a watch and the so-called Seongnam mafia case against President Lee Jae Myung had both been exposed as fabrications. "And yet no one is held accountable, and no one can be made to be — that kind of cowardly, corrupt old-style politics must not be allowed to happen in Ulsan," he said.

He added that because he had done nothing wrong, he intended to focus solely on his work. "That is why I came to today's Sunday investigation with a relaxed mind. I think I just need to tell it as it is," he said.

Sunday's questioning was expected to focus on the election law charges. Police have been pressing ahead with the investigation as the statute of limitations on the Public Official Election Act violations is set to expire Dec. 3.

The election law allegations stem from Kim's role in halting a poll during the candidate unification process between the Democratic Party of Korea and the Progressive Party ahead of the June 3 local elections this year.

Kim's camp at the time declared the polling suspended, citing what it described as signs of "organized interference by certain forces." After a series of twists, the Progressive Party agreed to a re-run of the primary election, and Kim emerged as the unified candidate before going on to win the mayoral race.

The People Power Party's Ulsan chapter subsequently filed a complaint with police against Kim, alleging publication of false information under the Public Official Election Act and obstruction of business under the Criminal Act.

The complaint contends that Kim publicly claimed the polling firm had found irregularities and suspended the survey — even though no organized interference had been confirmed — thereby influencing the election outcome.

Kim has also been named in a separate complaint related to prostitution allegations in the Philippines.

Police have also received a complaint alleging that individuals connected to those allegations passed money to a specific person in an attempt to cover up the matter.

On Saturday, Kim addressed the allegations directly through SNS, arguing that if he were cleared, "those irresponsible individuals who raised the allegations and engaged in false propaganda and agitation should take responsibility by retiring from politics or resigning their seats, and certain media outlets that amplified and reproduced the claims should issue a formal public apology."

He said that since the last election he had been subjected to baseless smear campaigns — including rumors of cohabiting with a Russian woman and an alleged affair with a yogurt delivery woman — and that his trip to the Philippines three or four years ago, taken when he was a lawyer to make contact with local industry players for the purpose of expanding immigration-related work, had now been twisted into prostitution allegations. "I think this has gone too far," he said.