The Mayor of Seoul, Park Won-soon, long seen as a potential South Korean presidential candidate, has been found dead, police said Friday, July 9. He was 64.
Park’s body was found at Mount Bugak in northern Seoul hours after hundreds of officers started searching for him. He was found near where his phone signal was last detected. No cause of death has yet been released.
His death comes after former Seoul City employee filed a police complaint — allegedly involving sexual harassment — against him on Wednesday, July 8. However, there has been no confirmation that this was a factor in his death
Park’s daughter reported him missing on Thursday afternoon, July 9, saying her father had been unreachable for several hours, police said. He left a message that sounded like “last words” and his phone had been turned off, she told police.
He did not show up for work on Thursday, cancelling a meeting with a presidential official at his Seoul City Hall office, Kim Ji-hyeong, an official from the Seoul Metropolitan Government, told the Associated Press. Police officer Lee Byeong-seok told reporters that Park was seen by a security camera at 10:53 near the entrance to the wooded area where his phone signal was last detected.