Supreme Court Confirms 1 Year 6 Months Prison Sentence and 900,000 Won Fine for Former Future Korea Party Leader Won Yu-cheol

Won Yu-cheol, former leader of the Future Korea Party (now People Power Party). [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] Former Future Korea Party (now People Power Party) leader Won Yoo-chul, who was on trial for violating the Political Funds Act and other charges, has been sentenced to imprisonment.

On the 21st, the Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Min Yoo-sook) held the final hearing for the appeal of former Future Korea Party (now People Power Party) leader Won Yoo-chul, who was indicted on charges of bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, receiving bribes through mediation under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, and violating the Political Funds Act. The court upheld the lower court's ruling, recognizing his guilt for receiving bribes through mediation under the Specific Economic Crimes Act and violating the Political Funds Act, sentencing him to 1 year and 6 months in prison and a fine of 900,000 KRW. The confiscation order of 50 million KRW was also confirmed as is.

The court stated, "There is no error in the lower court's judgment regarding the bribery nature and job relevance of the bribery charge, the political funds involved in the violation of the Political Funds Act, and the establishment of the crime of receiving bribes through mediation, which would have affected the verdict."

The charges confirmed guilty in both the second trial and the Supreme Court include that former leader Won received 30 million KRW from a business owner in another region in January 2013 as a bribe for helping secure a loan from the Korea Development Bank (charge of receiving bribes through mediation under the Specific Economic Crimes Act), received illegal political funds amounting to 25 million KRW under another person's name from local business chairpersons from April 2011 to March 2012, and misappropriated 17 million KRW in political funds under the pretext of salary from August 2012 to July 2014.

The prosecution also included charges that from 2011, he conspired with his aides to receive 180 million KRW from four companies in his electoral district of Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, but both the first and second trials acquitted him of these charges.

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