Appeal Trial of Park Jong-woo, Mayor of Geoje's Spouse, Postponed

Application for Constitutional Review by Spouse Side

The appeal trial for the spouse of Park Jong-woo, mayor of Geoje, Gyeongnam, who is accused of violating the Public Official Election Act, has been postponed.

According to the 2nd Criminal Division of the Changwon Branch of the Busan High Court, the appeal trial originally scheduled for the afternoon of the 5th was moved to the 4th.

This schedule change is known to be due to the spouse of Mayor Park, Mr. A, filing a constitutional review request on the provision banning regular donations under the Public Official Election Act on the 3rd.

A constitutional review request is the authority to apply to the Constitutional Court for a constitutional review of a law when there is a possibility that a specific legal provision in an ongoing case is unconstitutional, either by the court or the parties involved in the lawsuit.

If the court accepts this, the trial will be postponed until the Constitutional Court issues a decision on the unconstitutionality.

Park Jong-woo, Mayor of Geoje City, Gyeongnam, is talking with a civil complaint handler.
[Photo by Geoje City Hall]

Earlier, Mr. A was indicted on charges of donating a total of 10 million won, 5 million won each over two days, to a temple in Geoje in July 2021, and was sentenced to a fine of 2.5 million won in the first trial in May.

Mr. A’s side claimed innocence and appealed, and the prosecution also filed an appeal, arguing that the sentence was unfair.

At that time, the court ruled guilty, stating, “Mayor Park has been mentioned several times as a candidate for the next mayor in the media and has given interviews, confirming he is indeed a candidate. Also, the donation was made to a temple not usually visited by Mr. A, and the 10 million won is difficult to consider as a typical donation.”

Considering that the transfer was made to his own account at a time somewhat distant from the election, the court viewed the illegality of the donation and its relation to the election as somewhat weak, and did not accept the prosecution’s request for a 10-month prison sentence.

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