![Jung Yi-han, the Reform Party's candidate for Busan mayor. [Newsis]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/07/07/news-p.v1.20260618.915e91749ca04ea6b071eef0d5fd715a_P1.jpg)
Police have sought arrest warrants for Jung Yi-han (38), the former Reform Party candidate for Busan mayor, and one other person over allegations that he staged an attack on himself during the June 3 local elections campaign.
According to the Busan Geumjeong Police Station, police applied for the warrants on July 1 against Jung and a man in his 30s identified only as A — who threw a drink at Jung during the campaign — on charges including obstruction of official duties by deception and violations of the Public Official Election Act. Prosecutors submitted the warrant request to court on July 3.
The warrant application came roughly a month after the election concluded.
A pretrial detention hearing for the two suspects is scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Busan District Court.
"We applied for the arrest warrants due to concerns about destruction of evidence and flight risk," a police official said, adding that the warrants cover only the alleged staged-attack incident.
Jung had claimed that on April 27, while campaigning near the Guseo interchange in Geumjeong-gu, Busan, a passing motorist threw a drink at him from a car window, causing him to collapse. His campaign said at the time that Jung lost consciousness while trying to dodge the cup, was taken to hospital, and was diagnosed with a concussion and muscle contusion.
Investigators later found evidence suggesting the man who threw the drink was Jung's personal fitness trainer, pointing to possible prior collusion between the two, prompting police to open a formal investigation.
After completing their inquiry into the circumstances of the alleged offense, police determined there were sufficient grounds to charge Jung with obstruction of official duties by deception and violations of the Public Official Election Act, and applied for the arrest warrants.
Police are also examining separate allegations that employees of On Group affiliates — run by Jung's father — were mobilized for the campaign, as well as potential election interference and possible violations of medical law at an On Group hospital.
In the local elections, the Reform Party's Busan chapter nominated an employee of Jung's father's hospital as a proportional-representation candidate for the Busan City Council, and a campaign official is reported to have taken a job at the same hospital after the election.
Jung finished third in the Busan mayoral race with 27,418 votes, capturing 1.56 percent of the total.
The Reform Party said earlier that Jung had already left the party and that it would cooperate fully with the investigation.
jshan@heraldcorp.com
