Gangwon Land Hiring Corruption: Lawmaker Yeom Dong-yeol Sentenced to 1 Year in Prison and Loses Parliamentary Seat

Avoiding Imprisonment... Loss of Assembly Seat Upon Sentence Confirmation

On the 21st, Yeom Dong-ryeol, a member of the Liberty Korea Party, made a personal statement before the vote on the arrest motion against him was presented at the National Assembly plenary session. The arrest motion against Yeom Dong-ryeol was rejected. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Yeom Dong-yeol, a member of the Liberty Korea Party, who was indicted on charges of requesting employment at Kangwon Land, was sentenced to one year in prison in the first trial.

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 30 (Presiding Judge Kwon Hee) held a sentencing hearing on the 30th for Yeom, who was on trial for abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights, and delivered this sentence. The court stated, "It is sufficiently recognized that Yeom conspired with former Kangwon Land President Choi Hong-jip to obstruct the fairness of Kangwon Land's hiring process, fully aware that the fraudulent requests during the trainee recruitment constituted obstruction of business for Kangwon Land and the personnel in charge of the trainees." However, the court added, "At this point, there is no reason to detain him," and did not order detention in court.

If a member of the National Assembly is sentenced to imprisonment or higher in a general criminal case, they lose their seat. Yeom will lose his seat once the first trial sentence is finalized.

Previously, Yeom was indicted on charges of having his aides improperly hire 39 people, including acquaintances and supporters' children, during the public recruitment process for Kangwon Land trainees from November 2012 to April of the following year. He was also charged with threatening the head of Kangwon Land's HR team, who showed reluctance to personnel requests. The prosecution demanded a three-year prison sentence for Yeom at the sentencing hearing in November last year.

Meanwhile, Kwon Seong-dong, a Liberty Korea Party member who was also tried on charges of requesting employment at Kangwon Land related to this case, was acquitted in the first trial. The prosecution has appealed, and the second trial is ongoing.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.