The body of Choi Ho, a former Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly member under investigation for alleged connections to ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol, was discovered on a hillside in Pyeongtaek on Monday, according to local media.
Police located Choi approximately one hour after his family reported him missing, following his departure from home around 5 p.m. on Sunday. Authorities confirmed no suicide note was recovered at the scene and have preliminarily classified the death as self-inflicted, with no indications of foul play.
Choi had been the focus of a special counsel probe examining suspicions that then-President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, improperly influenced his 2022 nomination as mayoral candidate for Pyeongtaek.
Though he secured the conservative party’s nomination ahead of the June local elections that year, Choi ultimately lost to Democratic Party candidate Chung Jang-sun. The special counsel team clarified on Monday that Choi had not been summoned nor were there plans to question him regarding their investigation into Kim Keon Hee.
