Governor Kim Kyung-soo's Appeal Trial in 'Presidential Election Comment Manipulation' Case Fully Resumes... PT Argument Today

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The appellate trial of Kim Kyung-soo, Governor of Gyeongnam Province, dealing with the issue of presidential election public opinion manipulation, will resume on the 27th.

The Seoul High Court Criminal Division 2 (Presiding Judge Ham Sang-hoon) will hold a continuation of the appellate trial of Governor Kim, who was indicted on charges including computer-related obstruction of business, in the afternoon.

The court plans to hear two-hour presentations (PT) from both the special prosecutor team led by Heo Ik-beom and the defense counsel.

This argument follows the previous trial panel’s tentative conclusion before the court’s regular personnel changes in February that Governor Kim had "seen" the demonstration of the 'King Crab' program, a key issue in the case. The current trial panel has stated it will not be bound by that and will re-examine all issues from the beginning.

The court stated at that time, "We will listen again to the opinions of both the special prosecutor and the defense regarding the overall case."

Accordingly, Governor Kim’s side is expected to reiterate through the PT that the comment manipulation was carried out by the Druking group and that they have never seen the King Crab demonstration itself.

On the other hand, the special prosecutor has stated, "We cannot accept a PT that re-argues matters that have already been tentatively concluded," making it noteworthy what kind of argument will be presented on the day.

Previously, Governor Kim was indicted on charges of conspiring with the Druking group to illegally manipulate public opinion using the comment manipulation program 'King Crab' from around November 2016 to help the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate win.

After the 2017 presidential election, he was also tried on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act for allegedly continuing comment manipulation until the local elections the following year and proposing the Sendai Consul General position to Druking, who had requested the Osaka Consul General post at the end of that year.

The first trial recognized all of Governor Kim’s charges as guilty, sentencing him to two years in prison for comment manipulation and ordering his immediate detention. For the Public Official Election Act violation, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison with a two-year probation.

However, throughout the first and second trials, Governor Kim’s side has completely denied the charges, claiming they never saw King Crab, were unaware of the comment manipulation crimes, and never conspired.

Governor Kim has been on trial without detention after being released on bail during the appellate trial.

At the appellate trial’s closing arguments held on November 14 last year, the special prosecutor demanded a prison sentence of three years and six months for comment manipulation and two years and six months for violating the Public Official Election Act.

However, the trial panel postponed the originally scheduled sentencing date in December last year once, and then suddenly delayed it again in January.

Since then, the current trial panel took over the case through the court’s regular personnel changes in February and resumed arguments last month.

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