Park Jong-woo, Mayor of Geoje, Fined 2.5 Million Won for Spouse... Retains Mayoral Position

4 Members of the PR Team Also Found Guilty, Suspended Sentences and Fines Imposed

The first trial court sentenced the spouse of Park Jong-woo, mayor of Geoje, Gyeongnam, to a fine of 2.5 million won on charges of donating 10 million won to a temple.

According to the Tongyeong branch of Changwon District Court on the 11th, A, the spouse of Mayor Park, is accused of donating a total of 10 million won, 5 million won each, to monks at temples in the Geoje area over two days in early July last year. The monks who received the money from A were also indicted.

The court ruled guilty, stating that Mayor Park had been repeatedly mentioned as a candidate for the next mayor in the media and had given interviews, confirming he was indeed a candidate, and that A donated to a temple other than the one she usually attended, and that 10 million won is difficult to consider as a usual donation amount.

Additionally, the monk who received the money from A was sentenced to a fine of 1 million won and was ordered to confiscate the 10 million won donation.

The court explained the sentencing by saying, "Although this act undermined the legislative intent of the Public Official Election Act and caused distrust in fair elections, the transfer was made at a time considerably distant from the election, and since A transferred the money from her own account, the illegality of the donation and its connection to the election appear somewhat weak."

According to the current election law, donation activities by candidates as well as their spouses are prohibited, and if a spouse is sentenced to a fine of 3 million won or more or imprisonment, the election itself is invalidated.

Jong-woo Park, Mayor of Geoje, Gyeongnam.

Four members of the promotional team in Mayor Park’s election camp were also found guilty for exchanging money in return for social network service (SNS) promotion.

Team member B was sentenced to 8 months in prison with a 2-year probation for giving 12 million won to team member C and 1 million won to another team member from July to October 2021 in exchange for promotional activities.

C received a 6-month prison sentence with a 2-year probation and a confiscation order of 12 million won for receiving the money.

D, who requested revisions to Mayor Park’s SNS promotional materials from September of the same year to January last year and provided 4.5 million won to her older sister in three installments, was sentenced to 6 months in prison with a 1-year probation. E, the sister who received the money, was fined 1 million won and ordered to confiscate 4.5 million won.

The current chief secretary of Mayor Park, who was indicted for creating an internet site called ‘Byeon Gwang-yong.com’ to defeat the competing candidate former Geoje Mayor Byeon Gwang-yong by producing and distributing documents containing false information about development projects and development profits, was acquitted.

The court stated, "Although there are some errors in the budget-related parts of the posted articles, the intent of the posts was to criticize the budget during former Mayor Byeon’s term," and added, "It is difficult to conclude that these posts were false or intentional just because the year and supplementary budget status were not properly verified."

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