Rep. Yang Hyang-ja, accused of election law violation, acquitted again in appeal trial

Member of the National Assembly Yang Hyang-ja. / Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Yang Hyang-ja, a member of the National Assembly who was prosecuted for providing holiday gifts to constituents, was acquitted again in the appellate trial.

The 1st Criminal Division of the Gwangju High Court (Presiding Judge Lee Seung-chul) dismissed the prosecution's appeal and upheld the original verdict of not guilty in the appellate trial of Assemblywoman Yang, who was charged with violating the Public Official Election Act, on the 10th.

For Park Mo (52), a former special advisor at the regional office who was prosecuted on the same charges, the appellate court overturned the original sentence of a 3 million won fine and ordered a 2 million won fine and a supplementary fine of 135,000 won.

The court judged that there was no evidence to consider that Assemblywoman Yang had instructed her staff to carefully examine whether the gift-giving violated election laws and that she had any tacit awareness that the gift recipients included constituents.

Furthermore, considering that the co-defendant denied any conspiracy relationship in his statements, the court found the original acquittal verdict to be justifiable.

Regarding Mr. Park, the court said, "Considering the circumstances and scale of the donation act in this case, the nature of the crime does not appear favorable," but added, "Since about three years remain until the next National Assembly election at the time of the illegal donation, the actual impact on election fairness is expected to be relatively minor."

The reason for the reduced sentence for Mr. Park is that in February of this year, the same court sentenced him to one year in prison with a two-year probation for violating the Special Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes (indecent act by abuse of authority at work), and this case is considered a subsequent concurrent offense.

The court explained the sentencing rationale, stating, "It is necessary to consider fairness with cases judged simultaneously," and "The sentence was determined by comprehensively considering these various sentencing conditions."

They were prosecuted for gifting a total of 1.9 million won worth of Cheonhyehyang fruit boxes to 43 people, including constituents and reporters, from January 28 to February 9 of last year.

Under the Public Official Election Act, members of the National Assembly and their spouses are prohibited from making donations to residents, institutions, organizations, or facilities within their electoral district, or to people outside the district who have ties to constituents.

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