Ahead of the June 1, 2022 local elections, attorney Kang Yong-seok, who was on trial for allegedly providing money and valuables to company representatives, has received a suspended prison sentence.
According to the legal community on the 11th, the Supreme Court's first division (Chief Justice Noh Kyung-pil) upheld the lower court's ruling on the 27th of last month, sentencing attorney Kang to 1 year and 6 months in prison, with a 3-year suspension, for violations of the Public Official Election Act.
Attorney Kang, an independent candidate for Gyeonggi Province governor during the June 1, 2022 elections, was indicted for illegally disbursing part of 660 million won transferred to a company operated by his brother-in-law as campaign-related expense.
He is also accused of inflating service payments to other companies that assisted with his campaign and paying 3 million won to an employee of the YouTube channel "Garosero Research Institute" for managing social media and drafting press releases related to the campaign.
The first and second trial courts recognized his charges as guilty and sentenced him to 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 3-year suspension. He was also charged with illegally providing food to campaign workers and submitting false documents to the Election Commission, but this part was ruled not guilty.
Both attorney Kang and the prosecution appealed, but the Supreme Court rejected both appeals, stating there were no errors in the second trial's ruling.