Jeong Jeong-sun, Democratic Party Lawmaker, to Lose Assembly Seat... Accounting Officer Who Was Fined 10 Million Won Gives Up Appeal

Jeong Jeong-sun, member of the Democratic Party of Korea./Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] Jeong Jeong-sun, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who was sentenced to a disqualification from office in the first trial for accounting fraud committed during the April 15 general election, has lost her parliamentary seat.

The sentence was finalized because the accounting manager of Representative Jeong, who was fined 10 million won in the first trial, did not file an appeal by midnight the day before the appeal period expired. Under the current Public Official Election Act, if the election campaign manager or accounting manager is sentenced to a fine of 3 million won or more for violating election laws, the election of the corresponding member of the National Assembly is invalidated.

Therefore, regardless of the remaining trial results for Representative Jeong, who was sentenced to disqualification in the first trial, her election is invalidated and she loses her seat. This is the first case among the 21st National Assembly members to be dishonorably retired due to election law violations.

According to the Cheongju District Court on the 28th, Mr. A, the accounting manager of Representative Jeong who was fined 10 million won in the first trial for violating election laws, did not submit an appeal by midnight the day before the appeal deadline.

Mr. A is the person who reported Representative Jeong to the prosecution in June last year after a conflict over a staff position following the election. He admitted all charges during the trial, accepted the punishment, and declared that he would not appeal.

The prosecution also did not appeal as the sentence was delivered as requested, so Mr. A’s first trial verdict was confirmed as is.

In cases where the election of a candidate is invalidated due to election crimes committed by the election campaign manager or accounting manager (Article 265 of the Public Official Election Act), according to Article 144, Paragraph 1 of the Public Official Election Management Rules, the relevant election district committee must, upon receiving a certified copy of the final judgment confirming the disqualification, promptly decide and announce the invalidation of the election of the candidate, and notify the candidate and their affiliated party.

Representative Jeong is accused of paying 15 million won in activity expenses to unofficial campaign workers before the April 15 general election last year, omitting excess legal election expenses from the accounting report, and receiving 20 million won from Mr. A as election funds. She is also accused of extracting personal information of about 30,000 volunteers in Cheongju Sangdang District.

Jeong, who was indicted on charges of violating election laws, the Political Funds Act, and the Personal Information Protection Act, was sentenced on the 20th in the first trial to one year imprisonment and a fine of 30.3 million won for election law and political funds law violations, and one year imprisonment for violating the Personal Information Protection Act, and has appealed.

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