'Violation of Election Law' Jeong Jang-seon, Mayor of Pyeongtaek, Acquitted in First Trial

Jeong Jang-seon, mayor of Pyeongtaek City, Gyeonggi Province, who was indicted for sending promotional text messages about achievements to voters during last year's June 1 local elections (violation of the Public Official Election Act), was acquitted in the first trial.

Jeong Jang-seon, Mayor of Pyeongtaek [Photo by Yonhap News]

The 1st Criminal Division of the Pyeongtaek Branch of Suwon District Court (Chief Judge An Tae-yoon) acquitted Mayor Jeong on the 26th.

The court stated, "The achievement-related text messages among the charges do not contain specific content aimed at promoting personal achievements, so they cannot be considered promotional messages intended to influence the election." It also judged, "The delayed holding of the groundbreaking ceremony for the demolition of the arcade at Pyeongtaek Station Square appears to have been conducted according to the usual schedule due to delays in the compensation procedures for the stores."

Mayor Jeong was indicted on charges of sending text messages containing promotional content about achievements, such as the signing of the implementation agreement for the construction of Ajou University Hospital and the commencement of demolition work on the arcade store building at Pyeongtaek Station, to 7,000 unspecified voters about two months before the June 1 local elections last year.

He was also accused of holding the groundbreaking ceremony for the demolition of the arcade store building at Pyeongtaek Station in April, just before the local elections, although the demolition work had already started in December 2021.

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