Hayunsoo Busan Education Superintendent Election Nullified... 7 Million Won Fine for Election Law Violation

Ha Yun-su, the Superintendent of Education of Busan, who was indicted for operating a forum established ahead of last year's June 1 local elections like an election office, was sentenced to a fine of 7 million won, a penalty that invalidates his election, in the first trial.

The Criminal Division 6 of Busan District Court (Chief Judge Kim Tae-eop) sentenced Superintendent Ha to a fine of 7 million won on the afternoon of the 8th for violating the Local Education Autonomy Act. Five executives of the education forum who were indicted together were sentenced to fines ranging from 3 million to 5 million won.

The court stated, "The nature of the crime is very serious in that it artificially interfered with the process of free public opinion formation, which is the foundation of democracy," and “the blameworthiness is even greater because it showed a tendency to seek ways to evade the law rather than comply with it, regardless of means and methods to achieve the goal of election.”

The Local Education Autonomy Act punishes illegal acts related to superintendent elections by applying the Public Official Election Act. Accordingly, if Superintendent Ha is sentenced to a fine of 1 million won or more, his position as superintendent will be lost.

Hayunsoo, Superintendent of Busan Metropolitan Office of Education.

Superintendent Ha was tried on charges of establishing an education forum functioning similarly to an election office from June 2021, about a year before the June 1 local elections last year, and conducting pre-election campaigning.

He is also charged with publishing false information by listing the current names ‘Namhae Jeil High School’ and ‘Kyungsung University’ in election brochures last May, whereas the school names at the time of his graduation were ‘Namhae Comprehensive High School’ and ‘Busan National University of Technology.’

On February 17 last year, he was also accused of donating five copies of his own books (worth about 80,000 won) to the representative of a certain council. The court recognized all these charges as guilty.

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