General Election 'False Information Disclosure' Charge: Choi Kang-wook Trial to Conclude Next Month

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] A verdict on the charge of false information disclosure against Choi Kang-wook, leader of the Open Democratic Party, is expected to be announced as early as next month.

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 21-2 (Presiding Judges Kim Sang-yeon, Jang Yong-beom, Kim Mi-ri) held the second trial on the 30th for Choi, who was indicted for violating the Public Official Election Act, and announced, "The closing arguments will be held on the 13th of next month."

The court will conduct the defendant's examination of Choi during the closing arguments. The verdict will be delivered 2 to 4 weeks after the closing arguments, including the prosecution's sentencing recommendation.

The court reviewed a podcast broadcast in which Choi appeared during last year's general election period. In the broadcast, when asked about the circumstances of issuing an internship certificate to the son of former Minister Cho, Choi explained, "He has been doing it since high school."

Choi was indicted in January last year on charges of obstruction of business for issuing a false internship activity certificate to the son of former Minister Cho. He made statements denying the charges during the first trial while the broadcast was ongoing.

The prosecution indicted him in October last year, stating that the content Choi mentioned in the broadcast was different from the facts and constituted a violation of the election law by false information disclosure.

Choi's side emphasized, "Internship is not a legally defined term," and "There is no clear distinction between experiential activities and internship activities." They argued that even assigning tasks in the office broadly falls under experiential or internship activities.

The prosecution countered, "The document (internship certificate) contains specific details such as coming to the office, English translation, and record filing," and stated, "Whether it was an internship or experiential activity is an attempt to mislead the essence."

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