Suspended Sentence for Former Union Member Who Offered Money to Vote for a Specific Candidate

Changwon District Court, Gyeongnam.
Photo by Se-ryeong Lee

A man in his 70s, a former cooperative member, was sentenced to a suspended prison term for allegedly handing out money to voters to ensure the election of a specific candidate during the nationwide simultaneous cooperative head elections.

According to the Criminal Division 3 of Changwon District Court in Gyeongnam on the 26th, Mr. A was brought to trial on charges of handing 2 million won to cooperative member Mr. B at around 2 p.m. on March 6th from his car parked in a restaurant parking lot in Nae-dong, Miryang City, requesting support for a specific candidate.

Mr. A was sentenced to 8 months in prison with a 2-year suspension and ordered to forfeit the 2 million won in cash.

Mr. A, who was a member of a certain Nonghyup in Gimhae, was found to have handed over 40 bills of 50,000 won each while saying, "Please make sure to vote for Mr. C this time," to support Mr. C, a cooperative head candidate with whom he had a close relationship.

The judge pointed out, "The crime was committed just two days before the cooperative head election, and since there are only 436 members in the cooperative, there is a considerable risk of undermining the transparency and fairness of the election," adding, "The defendant refused to accept phone calls and did not sincerely respond to the investigation agency's summons, showing poor conduct after the crime."

He further explained the sentencing rationale, saying, "However, considering that this is the defendant's first offense, that Mr. C was not elected so the crime does not appear to have had a decisive impact on the election, and that the defendant's current health condition is not good."

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