Seunghee Woo, Yeongam County Governor, Fined 900,000 Won for 'Election Law Violation'... Retains Governor Position

The wife, also indicted, fined 900,000 won, and the other four defendants fined 700,000 won each

Woo Seung-hee, the governor of Yeongam-gun, Jeollanam-do, was sentenced to a fine of 900,000 won for violating the Public Official Election Act, allowing him to retain his position as governor.

The 1st Criminal Division of the Mokpo Branch of the Gwangju District Court (presiding judge Kim Tae-jun) sentenced Woo Seung-hee, governor of Yeongam-gun, to a fine of 900,000 won on the 10th for charges including violation of the Public Official Election Act.

Woosunghee Yeongam County Governor

The court also sentenced Woo’s wife and the other four defendants, who were indicted together, to fines ranging from 700,000 to 900,000 won.

Under the current Public Official Election Act, an election win is only invalidated if the defendant or their spouse is sentenced to a fine of 1,000,000 won or more for election law violations.

The court acknowledged that the defendants, including Governor Woo, sent messages via text or KakaoTalk to guide voting to party members with voting rights, but did not find this to be an encouragement of double voting.

Regarding the fact that a relative residing in Gwangju falsified their residence to participate as a party member with voting rights during the recruitment process, the court ruled there was insufficient evidence to determine whether Governor Woo had any influence.

The court found only that Governor Woo was guilty of calling one party member with voting rights and encouraging double voting.

The court explained the ruling background, stating, “The charge of inducing double voting by phone is partially acknowledged, but it cannot be confirmed that the defendant played any role in the change of address of the relative residing in Gwangju.”

It added, “Since the re-election was also won, it is difficult to see that the encouragement of double voting and card news had an impact on the party primary.”

Governor Woo won the party’s re-primary held amid the controversy over double voting encouragement and was nominated as the Democratic Party candidate, subsequently winning the election.

Meanwhile, the prosecution had previously requested a 10-month prison sentence for Governor Woo.

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