‘Reapproval Lobby’ Kang Hyun-gu, Former Lotte Homeshopping President, Sentenced to Prison with Probation Confirmed

1st and 2nd Trials "Submission of False Plan" Sentenced to 1 Year 6 Months Imprisonment with 2 Years Probation
Lotte Home Shopping Loses 'Business Suspension Cancellation Lawsuit'... 6-Month Suspension of 6 Hours Daily Broadcasting

Kang Hyun-gu, former president of Lotte Homeshopping.

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] Former Lotte Homeshopping CEO Kang Hyun-gu, who was prosecuted for submitting a false business plan and creating slush funds during the re-approval review process of Lotte Homeshopping's broadcasting license, has been sentenced to imprisonment.

The Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Lee Dong-won) on the 1st upheld the original sentence of 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 2-year probation for Kang, who was indicted on charges including violation of the Broadcasting Act.

The Lotte Homeshopping corporation, which was also indicted, was fined 20 million won. Former public official So Mo, who was indicted for receiving money by promising to arrange a meeting with an auditor from the Board of Audit and Inspection (violation of the Attorney Act), also received a sentence of 10 months in prison with a 2-year probation.

Kang was prosecuted for submitting a false business plan to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (now the Ministry of Science and ICT) during the broadcasting re-approval review period in March 2015, in which the section on ‘corruption related to business operations and criminal acts of executives and employees’ was falsely written, thereby obtaining re-approval (violation of the Broadcasting Act).

He is also accused of obstructing fair re-approval review procedures by submitting a false list to the Ministry excluding the name of Park Mo, a former director of the Korea Broadcasting Culture Promotion Foundation, who was disqualified from being a review committee member, in April 2017 (obstruction of official duties).

Additionally, Kang is charged with raising funds through methods such as ‘gift certificate laundering’ before the broadcasting re-approval review and delivering them to politicians under the name of sponsorship.

The first and second trials sentenced Kang to 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 2-year probation, stating, "Although the punishment records of executives and employees are a factor for deduction in the broadcasting review, he testified as if the content was unrelated to Lotte."

The Supreme Court also ruled, "There is no error in the original judgment such as violating the rules of logic and experience, exceeding the limits of free evaluation of evidence, misunderstanding the burden of proof regarding causation in the Broadcasting Act violation, omission of judgment, or contradictory reasoning."

Meanwhile, on the previous day, the Supreme Court's 1st Division (Presiding Justice Noh Tae-ak) dismissed the appeal filed by Lotte Homeshopping against the Ministry of Science and ICT’s order to suspend business for omitting executives’ and employees’ criminal acts intentionally during the re-approval review process, thereby upholding the original ruling that the suspension order was justified. Accordingly, Lotte Homeshopping will have its broadcasting suspended for 6 months, 6 hours a day (from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m.).

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