Hwang Unha Maintains Parliamentary Seat After Acquittal in Second Trial... Opposition Says "Yoon Prosecution Overzealously Indicted"

Hwang Unha, floor leader of the Joguk Innovation Party, who was indicted on charges of 'commanded investigation' and found guilty in the first trial, was dramatically acquitted in the appeal trial on the 4th. The opposition parties unanimously blamed the reckless prosecution by the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's prosecution.

On that day, Floor Leader Hwang was acquitted in the appeal trial of the 'Ulsan mayoral election interference case' held at the Seoul High Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. After the verdict, Hwang said in a statement, "This reveals that the substance of the Ulsan case was nothing but a novel fabricated by the prosecution and that the prosecution was a retaliatory indictment aimed at killing Hwang Unha, the prosecution's public enemy number one."

He continued, "Originally, this case started around March 2018 with a complaint from the Liberty Korea Party (the predecessor of the People Power Party) and led to a retaliatory investigation against Hwang Unha, then chief of the Ulsan Police Agency. After the case was transferred to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in 2019, it was distorted into an investigation targeting the Moon Jae-in administration under the frame of 'commanded investigation by the Blue House,'" he claimed.

On the 4th, at the Seoul High Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, Song Cheol-ho, former mayor of Ulsan (left), who was acquitted in the second trial of the 'Ulsan mayoral election interference suspicion' case involving the Moon Jae-in administration's Blue House, and Hwang Un-ha, floor leader of the Joguk Innovation Party, are leaving the courtroom happily. Photo by Yonhap News.

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Floor Leader Hwang was previously prosecuted on charges of conducting an investigation related to Kim Gi-hyun, then mayor of Ulsan (currently a People Power Party lawmaker), who was a rival candidate to former Ulsan Mayor Song Cheol-ho, under the command of the Blue House during the 2018 local elections. This investigation is considered a representative case directed by Yoon Seok-yeol, then Prosecutor General, in November 2019. Regarding this case, Hwang was sentenced to three years in prison in the first trial in November 2023. According to the Public Official Election Act and the National Assembly Act, a sitting lawmaker loses their seat if sentenced to imprisonment or higher (including suspended sentences) upon final confirmation, so if the guilty verdict had been upheld in the appeal trial, Hwang was likely to lose his seat.

As a result, with the reversal of the verdict in the second trial that day, the prosecution faced criticism for conducting a politically motivated forced investigation.

Shin Jang-sik, spokesperson for the Joguk Innovation Party, told Asia Economy in a phone interview, "Looking at the indictment at the time, Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol appears to have tried to exert political influence on the 2020 general election through the Ulsan mayoral election interference case and others," adding, "This case was essentially a planned investigation created to lay a stepping stone toward the impeachment of former President Moon Jae-in."

The Democratic Party welcomed the acquittal in the appeal trial as 'justice ultimately prevails.' Cho Seung-rae, chief spokesperson for the Democratic Party, said in a commentary, "It is natural for the court to put a brake on reckless investigations and prosecutions targeting the previous administration and political hunting. The People Power Party, which has ridden on the political prosecution's fabricated investigations to carry out political offensives, must also reflect on itself," he emphasized.

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