Kim Jin-kyu, Ulsan Nam-gu Mayor, Sentenced to 10 Months in Prison... Election Invalidated

Supreme Court Upholds Lower Court Ruling... 10 Million Won Fine for Violation of Attorney Act

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Kim Jin-gyu, the mayor of Nam-gu, Ulsan, has been sentenced to 10 months in prison, a sentence that invalidates his election, for violating the Public Official Election Act.

On the 27th, the Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice No Jeong-hee) upheld the lower court's guilty verdict in the final appeal trial of Mayor Kim, who was indicted for violating the Public Official Election Act. If an elected official is convicted of violating the Public Official Election Act and sentenced to a fine of 1 million KRW or more, their election is invalidated.

Kim, affiliated with the Democratic Party of Korea, has been on trial for providing 14 million KRW to four people, including election workers, as payment for election campaigning during the June 13, 2018 local elections. He is also accused of falsely listing himself as the 'Senior Vice President of the General Alumni Association' of a business graduate school he did not actually graduate from in election publicity materials.

The charges also include receiving 91.4 million KRW in legal fees over 23 cases introduced to him while working as a lawyer, and paying 3.55 million KRW as a reward for those introductions. Lawyers are prohibited from providing money or valuables as compensation for case referrals.

In the first trial, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison for violating the Public Official Election Act and fined 10 million KRW for violating the Attorney-at-Law Act, and was detained in court. The second trial upheld the first trial's judgment.

Although Mayor Kim appealed, the Supreme Court dismissed it. The court ruled that the money given to election workers was related to election campaigning prohibited by law. It also pointed out that listing 'Senior Vice President of the General Alumni Association of the Business Graduate School' in election publicity was a false statement regarding academic background rather than career.

Meanwhile, Mayor Kim was released on July 26 after completing his sentence and has returned to his duties as mayor.

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