'Leaflet Distribution to North Korea' Park Sang-hak Sentenced to Probation with Fine for Violation of the Fundraising Act in First Trial

On the morning of the 8th, Park Sang-hak, the representative of the Free North Korea Movement Alliance, attended the first trial sentencing for violation of the Fundraising Act held at the Seoul Central District Court.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Park Sang-hak, the head of the Free North Korea Movement Alliance, who was indicted on charges of soliciting donations without registering with the competent authorities, was sentenced to a suspended fine in the first trial.

On the morning of the 8th at 10 a.m., Judge Kim Taekyun of Criminal Division 16 at the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Park Sang-hak, indicted for violating the Donation Act, to a fine of 3 million KRW with a one-year suspended sentence, and the Free North Korea Movement Alliance corporation to a fine of 2 million KRW with a suspended sentence.

Park Jung-oh, the head of Keunsaem, and the Keunsaem corporation, who were indicted together on the same charges, were sentenced to fines of 2 million KRW with a one-year suspended sentence and 1 million KRW with a one-year suspended sentence, respectively.

Judge Kim stated, "Considering that donations were solicited for several years without registration procedures and the scale was considerable, the nature and circumstances of the crime are not light," but added, "It does not appear that the defendants had a definite intent to violate the law, nor did they solicit donations for profit. There is no evidence that the solicited donations were used improperly," explaining the reasons for sentencing.

Earlier, Park Sang-hak was brought to trial on charges of soliciting about 170 million KRW in donations from 2016 to 2020 without registering with the competent authorities. Park Jung-oh was indicted together for soliciting about 20 million KRW during the same period.

They argued in court that "the money received does not qualify as donations under the Donation Act." They also claimed that they were unaware of the requirement to register with the authorities under the law related to donation solicitation, and that there was no illegality as it did not violate social norms.

However, the first trial did not accept these claims. Judge Kim pointed out, "The sponsorship funds correspond to donations under the Donation Act." He further explained, "The Donation Act stipulates the registration of donation solicitation, disclosure of information related to donation solicitation, disclosure obligations, and accounting audits," adding, "Soliciting sponsorship funds from an unspecified large number of people without registration for no particular reason resulted in evading various regulations related to donations."

Meanwhile, Park Sang-hak was separately indicted without detention last April on charges of attempted violation of the Inter-Korean Relations Development Act for sending leaflets to North Korea twice by attaching them to balloons in the areas adjacent to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do.

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