<Anchor> The



prosecution turned over Lee Jin-seok, head of the Blue House State Administration Office, to trial on charges of unjustly intervening in the 2018 Ulsan mayoral election.

This is the sixth Blue House member to be tried for this investigation, and the Blue House leaders at that time were not accused.



This is reporter Bae Jun-woo.



<Reporter>



In October 2017, eight months before the local election, Lee Jin-suk, the current Secretary of State for Social Policy at the Blue House, meets Candidate Chul-ho Song, who was running for the Ulsan mayoral election.



Candidate Song is a special acquaintance with President Moon Jae-in.



Candidate Chul-ho Song asks Mr. Lee and others to postpone the announcement of the results of the preliminary feasibility of establishing an industrial accident mother hospital, a key pledge of the mayor at the time, Kim Ki-hyun, who was a rival candidate.



Just 20 days before the actual election, it was announced that there was no validity of the pledge, and the prosecutors handed over Lee Jin-seok to trial, claiming that Director Jin-seok Lee intervened in the process and even provided inside information to Candidate Song.



Candidate Chul-ho Song was elected mayor, but he is being tried for violating the Public Officials Election Act and further investigation for violating the Political Fund Act.



As a result, all 15 prosecutors who completed the investigation for one year and five months turned over to trial.



Six members of the Blue House were included, including former chief political officer Han Byeong-do, secretary Won-woo Baek and Hyung-cheol Park.



However, at the time, all of the Blue House's tops, including Chief of Secretary Lim Jong-seok and Choguk's chief civil servant, were not accused.



"There is room for them to be involved, but the evidence is lacking," the prosecution said.



Even though six members of the Blue House were mobilized for Song's election, it is pointed out that it is difficult to convince the conclusion that the Blue House leader is not responsible.