'False Information Disclosure' Jeong Heon-yul, Mayor of Iksan, Acquitted

Jeong Heon-yul, former mayor of Iksan, Jeonbuk, who was indicted for making false statements during a broadcast debate ahead of the 8th nationwide simultaneous local elections, was acquitted.

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Lee Dong-won) on the 31st upheld the lower court's verdict acquitting Mayor Jeong, who was charged with violating the Public Official Election Act.

With this ruling, Mayor Jeong has escaped the risk of losing his position. Elected officials lose their office if they are convicted of violating the Public Official Election Act and sentenced to a fine of 1 million won or more.

Mayor Jeong was indicted for allegedly making false statements during a broadcast debate on May 24 last year, claiming that "in the private park special project agreement, the profit rates for Sudosan and Madong are limited to about 5% and 3%, respectively, and there is a clause to recover (excess profits) if exceeded," which was not true.

The prosecution argued that Mayor Jeong knowingly made false statements despite being aware that there was no clause for recovering excess profits, and brought the case to trial, but both the first and second trial courts acquitted him.

The second trial court stated, "Although the term 'recovery of excess profits' does not appear in the private park special project agreement, the defendant (Mayor Jeong) and Iksan City inserted content regarding reinvestment of excess profits into the agreement," adding, "It appears that the possibility of recovering excess profits was judged based on this content."

It continued, "Therefore, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that the defendant's statement was false or that there was intent to publicize false facts," and ruled, "The prosecution's claim that the defendant distorted facts with the intent to mislead voters' accurate judgment is not accepted."

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