Lee Jang-woo, Gyeongnam Provincial Assembly Member, Loses Assembly Seat... 3 Million Won Fine Upheld by Supreme Court

Lee Jang-woo, a member of the Gyeongnam Provincial Assembly (Changwon 12), who was indicted for violating the Public Official Election Act, lost his position as a lawmaker after the Supreme Court confirmed a fine of 3 million won.

The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Lee Heung-gu) on the 9th dismissed both the prosecutor's and Lee's appeals in the final trial and upheld the second trial ruling that sentenced him to a fine of 3 million won.

Lee Jang-woo, Gyeongnam Provincial Assembly member. Photo by Gyeongnam Provincial Assembly

Lee was prosecuted on charges of paying 1.5 million won to an aide, Mr. A, who helped with driving and photography during his election campaign in the June 1, 2022 local elections.

He was also accused of donating 200,000 won to a local mountaineering club.

Under the Public Official Election Act, election candidates are prohibited from providing money or goods related to election campaigns.

The first trial court acquitted him of the donation charge due to lack of evidence but found him partially guilty of violating the election law, ruling that Mr. A’s activities from March 24 to April 21, 2022, such as photography, were not election campaigning but activities for the party primary, and sentenced him to a fine of 800,000 won.

However, the appellate court ruled that while the activities from March 24 to April 1, 2022, could be considered as campaigning for the party primary, Mr. A’s actions between April 8 and 21, when the party primary method was finalized to grant voting rights only to responsible party members, were deemed election campaigning, and sentenced Lee to a fine of 3 million won, which results in loss of office.

According to the Public Official Election Act, if an elected public official is sentenced to imprisonment or a fine of 1 million won or more for violating the Act, the election is invalidated.

With Lee losing his position, a by-election is scheduled to be held on April 2 in the Changwon 12 electoral district (Hoe-won 1 & 2, Seokjeon, Hoeseong, Hapjeong 1-dong) of the Provincial Assembly.

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