"Wanted to Share Integrity Values"... 'Fined for Distributing Election Pre-Candidate Autobiographies'

A local public enterprise executive who distributed a book by former Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong-seop, who was seeking re-election during last year's local elections, to employees has been fined.

The 12th Criminal Division of the Gwangju District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Sang-gyu) sentenced A (59), former Executive Director of the Gwangju Environment Corporation, to a fine of 1.5 million won on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act.

A is accused of purchasing about 50 copies of the book "Life and History Are Meetings," written by former Mayor Lee Yong-seop, who was a preliminary candidate ahead of the Democratic Party primary held before the June 1 local elections last year, and distributing them to senior employees of the corporation through a secretary.

A is known to be a former senior public official of Gwangju City who retired honorably during Lee's tenure as mayor and was appointed through a recruitment process for executives of the corporation.

At the time of distributing the books, A was serving as the acting representative of the corporation.

A denied the charges, stating, "I wanted to share the values of communication, integrity, and innovation presented in the book," and "It was not intended to solicit support."

The court pointed out, "Using his position to distribute an autobiography to employees constitutes a form of donation, which undermines the legislative intent of the Public Official Election Act and poses a risk to the fairness of elections by affecting voters' free decision-making regarding their votes."

It added, "Although he does not admit his wrongdoing, most of the books were recovered, the offense did not significantly affect the election results, and he has no prior criminal record," explaining the reasons for sentencing.

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