Former lawmaker Jeong Bong-joo was sentenced to a fine for allegedly distorting the results of an internal party primary opinion poll in his favor and announcing it during a YouTube broadcast ahead of last year's 22nd general election.
The Seoul Northern District Court's Criminal Division 11 (Director General Lee Dong-sik) imposed a fine of 3 million won on former lawmaker Jeong on the 28th for violating election laws.
Previously, former lawmaker Jeong was indicted for allegedly presenting the results of an opinion poll targeting the 'active voting group' as if it were a survey of all voters during the candidacy process of the Democratic Party in the electoral district of Gangbuk in February last year. Among the active voting group, the support rate gap was relatively small compared to his competitor, former lawmaker Park Yong-jin, who was an incumbent member from the electoral district at the time. He distorted the opinion poll results to favor himself.
Former lawmaker Jeong won the candidacy for the Gangbuk district by defeating former lawmaker Park, who is part of the anti-Lee Jae-myung faction, in the primary. However, his candidacy was canceled due to inappropriate remarks made about soldiers who suffered from the past 'DMZ landmine' incident and for his 'false explanation' regarding the controversy.
The court stated, 'The defendants claim that this was solely Yang's act without any conspiracy; however, considering the messages sent between the defendants and call logs, collusion is acknowledged,' adding, 'The video was deleted immediately, so its impact on the election results is considered relatively small.'
After the trial, former lawmaker Jeong left the courtroom with a stern expression. Outside the courtroom, he met with reporters and stated, 'The sentence was harsher than I expected,' and expressed plans to appeal.