'Violation of Election Law' Kim Bora, Anseong Mayor, Acquitted in First Trial

by Jung Doohwan

Published 21 Jul.2023 14:04(KST)

Kim Bora, mayor of Anseong, Gyeonggi, who was indicted for distributing election campaign materials containing false achievements during last year's June 1 local elections, was acquitted.

The 1st Criminal Division of the Pyeongtaek Branch of Suwon District Court (Chief Judge Ahn Tae-yoon) acquitted Mayor Kim on the 21st.

The court stated, "Sending a text message to voters containing information that the defendant was fined 800,000 won in a past election law violation case should be seen as informing citizens of important matters related to maintaining the mayoral position, not as election campaigning," and added, "Distributing food to employees during the 2nd anniversary event of the inauguration is also considered a job-related act exempted from donation acts under election law."

The court further noted, "The food cost about 3,800 won per employee, and at that time, many other local governments held events to encourage employees who worked hard on COVID-19 prevention," and added, "Lastly, the prosecution's claim that the election notice contained false information stating 'Railroad attraction confirmed' cannot be considered false given the circumstances at that time."

Earlier, the prosecution indicted Mayor Kim in May last year, just before the June 1 local elections, on charges of distributing election campaign materials containing false information such as 'Railroad attraction confirmed after 32 years,' even though the railroad attraction had not yet been confirmed. Mayor Kim was also charged with distributing food worth about 5.3 million won to all 1,398 city hall employees on the occasion of his 2nd anniversary in office in April last year, and sending year-end greeting text messages containing the results of a past election law violation case to about 19,000 citizens in December 2021, which was not during the election campaign period.