Wonyucheol and Choi Hongjip Pass 'Parole Review'... Kim Kyungsoo Fails

Former Gyeongnam Governor Kim Fails Parole Review Again Following September Rejection

Governor Kim Kyung-soo, who was sentenced to two years in prison for his involvement in the 'Druking comment manipulation' case, is making a statement at the Gyeongnam Provincial Government Office on July 21 last year. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] Former Gyeongnam Governor Kim Kyung-soo, who is serving time for the ‘Druking Comment Manipulation Case,’ has once again been excluded from parole eligibility. Former Future United Party (predecessor of the People Power Party) lawmaker Won Yoo-chul, who is serving a confirmed prison sentence for receiving several tens of millions of won in bribes, will be released on parole.

According to the legal community, on the afternoon of the 23rd, the Ministry of Justice held a parole review committee meeting at the Gwacheon Ministry of Justice building and judged former lawmaker Won eligible for parole.

Under Korean law, inmates who have served more than one-third of their sentence are eligible for parole. The Ministry of Justice classifies preliminary parole candidates into seven types based on factors such as prison behavior, type of crime, and health condition. These are further subdivided by security treatment level and recidivism prediction index, applying an individual inmate’s sentence execution rate between 50% and 90%.

Former lawmaker Won was indicted for receiving 50 million won from a KOSDAQ-listed company in 2013 as a bribe for helping secure a loan from the Korea Development Bank (charge of mediation bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes), and was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison last July.

Former Kangwon Land President Choi Heung-jip, involved in the Kangwon Land recruitment corruption scandal, also passed the parole review. Former President Choi was indicted for obstructing interview duties by artificially inflating the self-introduction scores of favored candidates and was sentenced to 3 years in prison in February this year.

Former lawmaker Won and former President Choi are scheduled to be released around 10 a.m. on the 30th.

On the other hand, former Governor Kim was deemed ineligible and his release was canceled. Kim’s sentence runs until May 4 of next year. Although Kim had served more than 70% of his sentence and was eligible for parole review, he was judged ineligible. Kim was also listed as a parole candidate in September this year but was not released, and was excluded from the review list last month.

Kim was prosecuted for conspiring with ‘Druking’ Kim Dong-won and his associates to manipulate public opinion from late 2016 to help then-Democratic Party presidential candidate Moon Jae-in win the election. In January 2019, he was sentenced to 2 years in prison at the first trial and was taken into custody, released on bail after 77 days, but was re-incarcerated at Changwon Prison last July after the Supreme Court finalized his sentence.

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