‘Ulsan Mayor Election Interference Allegation’ Song Cheol-ho and Hwang Un-ha Sentenced to 3 Years in First Trial... Avoided Immediate Imprisonment

Court: "Former Mayor Song Led Presidential Office Election Interference"
"Hwang Unha Colluded with Former Mayor Song in Abuse of Power... Unlawful Work Orders"

Former Ulsan Mayor Song Cheol-ho and Democratic Party lawmaker Hwang Un-ha, who were indicted on suspicion of interfering in the Ulsan mayoral election, were sentenced to prison in the first trial. The first trial verdict for former Mayor Song and others came 3 years and 10 months after the prosecution filed charges.

Former Ulsan Mayor Song Cheol-ho is attending the sentencing trial for allegations of the Blue House's interference in the Ulsan mayoral election and violations of the Public Official Election Act at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong, Seoul on the 29th. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 21-3 (Presiding Judges Kim Mi-kyung, Heo Kyung-moo, Kim Jeong-gon) sentenced former Mayor Song and lawmaker Hwang, who were indicted on charges including violation of the Public Official Election Act, to three years in prison on the 29th. However, they were not detained in court as there was no risk of evidence destruction or flight.

The court stated, "Former Mayor Song had worked as a lawyer for a long time and ran multiple times as a member of the National Assembly and mayoral candidate, thus knowing the importance of election fairness, yet he planned and led the crime to have the Presidential Secretariat intervene in the election for his own victory." It added, "He ultimately won the election and gained the greatest benefit from the crime. Despite the fact that the crime would have been difficult to carry out without former Mayor Song's approval, he did not reflect on his wrongdoing and shifted the blame to other defendants, making his culpability very serious."

Hwang Unha, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the sentencing trial for the 'alleged involvement of the Blue House in the Ulsan mayoral election' violation of the Public Official Election Act at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong, Seoul, on the 29th. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

Regarding lawmaker Hwang, the court criticized, "Although police officers must be directed and supervised to perform their duties in compliance with the Constitution and laws, he colluded with former Mayor Song to abuse and issue unjust work orders for a specific political party member, and abused personnel authority to demote police officers who were diligently performing their duties." It continued, "Despite betraying public trust in the police organization and its fairness, he did not repent for his crimes, making his culpability severe."

Furthermore, the court sentenced former Ulsan Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs Song Byung-gi to three years in prison, former Blue House Civil Affairs Secretary Baek Won-woo to two years in prison, former Anti-Corruption Secretary Park Hyung-cheol to one year in prison with a two-year probation, and acquitted Democratic Party lawmaker Han Byung-do, former Blue House National Situation Room Chief Lee Jin-seok, and former Senior Administrative Officer of the Balanced Development Secretariat Jang Hwan-seok.

The prosecution charged former Mayor Song and others with various illegal and illicit acts, including ordering the police to conduct a politically motivated investigation against then-Mayor Kim Ki-hyun (current leader of the People Power Party) to help the election of former Mayor Song, who is a close friend of former President Moon Jae-in for 30 years, ahead of the 2018 local elections.

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