Yang Kyung-sook of the Democratic Party sentenced to 1 year and 8 months in prison for 'Apartment Fraud' following 'Nomination Scam'

Yang Kyung-sook, former Programming Director of Radio21 Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] Yang Kyung-sook, who was sentenced to prison for the Democratic United Party nomination fraud case, has been sentenced to prison again on charges of forging apartment contracts and other documents.

On the 7th, Judge Kim Byung-man of the Seoul Western District Court Criminal Division 10 announced that Yang was sentenced to 1 year and 8 months in prison on charges of forgery of private documents and use of forged private documents.

Yang, a former head of programming at an internet radio broadcast, was prosecuted for forging a contract confirmation letter to make it appear as if she had purchased an apartment from an acquaintance, A, around 2012, despite not actually buying the apartment. She is also accused of forging an IOU. While on trial without detention, Yang reportedly delayed her court appearances and submitted documents suspected of being fabricated as evidence to the court. In response, the court detained Yang in July of this year, citing concerns over evidence destruction and flight risk.

At Yang’s sentencing hearing held on the 12th of last month, the prosecution requested a 2-year prison sentence.

The court stated, "The defendant’s statements regarding the circumstances of the preparation of these documents are neither consistent nor specific and lack rationality," adding, "It appears that the statements were made hastily to evade questioning about the criminal facts." The court concluded, "Considering all these circumstances, it is possible to fully acknowledge the fact that the documents were forged and used," and found all charges against Yang to be guilty.

Meanwhile, Yang was previously sentenced to 3 years in prison in 2013 for embezzling a large sum of money under the pretext of nomination donations from Democratic United Party proportional representation candidates in 2012. She was later additionally prosecuted for forgery of private documents in another case and had a 2-year prison sentence confirmed in 2015.

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