Park Jong-woo, Geoje Mayor, Appeals Against Election Nullification Sentence

Park Jong-woo, mayor of Geoje City, Gyeongnam, who was sentenced to a disqualification from office in the first trial for violating the Public Official Election Act, has filed an appeal.

According to the legal community on the 7th, Mayor Park submitted an appeal on the 6th, disagreeing with the first trial court's ruling.

Jong-woo Park, Mayor of Geoje, Gyeongnam,
[Photo by Geoje City Hall]

Mayor Park was reported to the Geoje Election Commission on charges of involvement in providing 13 million won in three installments to a staff member of National Assemblyman Seo Il-jun's office through a promotion team member, in exchange for recruiting party membership applications, providing party member lists, and promoting on social networking services (SNS) ahead of last year's nationwide simultaneous local elections.

In December of last year, he was not prosecuted due to insufficient evidence, but the Geoje Election Commission, dissatisfied with this, requested a review of the non-prosecution decision, which was accepted by the Changwon branch of the Busan High Court, leading to a trial.

At the sentencing hearing on the 23rd of last month, the prosecution requested a 'judgment at the court's discretion' without seeking a separate sentence.

On the 30th of the same month, the Criminal Division 1 of the Tongyeong Branch of Changwon District Court sentenced Mayor Park in the first trial to six months in prison with a two-year suspension of execution.

Under the Public Official Election Act, an elected public official is disqualified from office if sentenced to a fine of 1 million won or more.

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