Ex-Gyeryong mayor found dead after losing nomination in local elections

Former Mayor of the central city of Gyeryong Lee Ki-won / Korea Times file

Former Mayor Lee Ki-won of the central city of Gyeryong has been found dead on the island of Jeju after he lost the ruling People Power Party's nomination for a second term in the upcoming local elections.

Police found him dead on a hill at around 11 p.m., Monday, after his family reported him missing a day earlier, police officials said. Lee and his family came to Jeju last week for a month-long vacation, and he went out of contact after going out for a "bicycle ride" Sunday morning.

"We are conducting an investigation after finding out that former Mayor Lee sent a text message to a former colleague right before his death," a police official noted.

Lee, who served as the mayor of the central city of Gyeryong from 2010-2014, had been nominated to run again for the seat in the June 1 local elections on the ruling People Power Party's ticket.

Reversing the decision, however, a regional nomination panel of the party disqualified him from running in early May for having been fined in an illegal political fund case and lying about the record in his nomination process. (Yonhap)

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