박원순 서울시장 서울대학교병원에 빈소 마련
In city in shock,... and an entire country still struggling to understand what happened.
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon,... seen by many as a potential presidential hopeful, was found dead on a mountain near the capital shortly after midnight, Korea time, after he went missing earlier in the day.
Our Kim Do-yeon is at the hospital where his body is currently being held.
Do-yeon, it must be a very somber atmosphere there....
Yes, Mark, I'm at Seoul National University Hospital where the wake for Mayor Park is being held.
It's closed to the public... but there's a lot of media here as you would expect waiting for any updates regarding the funeral process.
At the moment, only his family members are allowed into the funeral proceedings.
Some of his coworkers, high-level public officials were seen coming, but we are told they were told to wait inside the building until the funeral home opens up to them.
The city said earlier that the body will be moved on July 13th, and the funeral will be a special mayoral funeral in a five day traditional Korean system.
The city will set up a special memorial at City Hall for the public to pay their respects in the coming hours.
In addition, the city said it now has an interim mayor, Park's deputy, Seo Jeong-hyup.
Let's hear what he had to say a few hours ago.
"Every public official will be working as one to ensure city affairs run smoothly. Especially with the COVID-19 situation, the Seoul city government will do its utmost to protect the safety of our citizens.
Ok, so his focus is on ensuring the city's affairs remain on track. Turning back to Mayor Park, prior to the news of him going missing and subsequently his death, it was reported Park had called in sick and had cleared his schedule for today as well...
That's right Mark, he canceled his plans prior to leaving his house.
He left some words for his daugther, which unsettled her.
At around 5 P.M, Korea time, his daughter called the police, saying he was missing, and the search started immediately.
When the body was found near Mount Bugaksan in the northern part of Seoul, police didn't officially comment on the cause of death, but said there were no signs of a foul play.
Lastly, the public is also paying attention to the fact that police received a complaint regarding allegedly sexual harassment that was leveled against him on Wednesday by his former secretary.
There's speculation this could have caused him to take his own life, but we are still awaiting an official report from the authorities.
Back to you, Mark