Former Ulsan Mayor Song Chul-ho and Rebuilding Korea Party member Hwang Un-ha were acquitted by the Supreme Court on the 14th in relation to the 'Ulsan mayor election intervention case.' This is the outcome after 5 years and 7 months since they were indicted in January 2020.
The Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Chief Justice Oh Kyung-mi) upheld the 2nd trial ruling that acquitted former Mayor Song and Representative Hwang of charges including violations of the Public Official Election Act and abuse of power. Former Blue House Chief of Staff Baek Won-woo, former Anti-Corruption Secretary Park Hyung-chul, and former Blue House Administrative Officer Moon Hae-joo, who were also indicted, were acquitted of allegations related to violations of the Public Official Election Act.
The Ulsan mayor election intervention case involves allegations that the Blue House under the Moon Jae-in administration systematically intervened in the election to help former Mayor Song, a long-time friend of former President Moon, win by soliciting an investigation into then-Ulsan Mayor Kim Ki-hyun ahead of the local elections in June 2018. Representative Hwang was the head of the Ulsan Provincial Police Agency at the time.
Previously, the 1st trial ruled that former Mayor Song and Representative Hwang were guilty of election interference and sentenced them each to three years in prison. Former Secretary Baek received a two-year prison sentence, former Secretary Park was sentenced to one year in prison with a two-year suspension, and former Secretary Moon received a ten-month prison sentence with a two-year suspension.
However, the 2nd trial acquitted all of them. The 2nd trial court stated, 'There is no direct evidence to acknowledge that former Mayor Song met with former Administrator Hwang and solicited an investigation into Mayor Kim's misconduct, and the testimony of the witnesses recognized as evidence in the 1st trial lacks specificity and is not credible.'
On that day, the Supreme Court also agreed with the 2nd trial's judgment.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court ruling created setbacks for the prosecution's re-investigation into the Ulsan mayor election intervention case. Previously, after investigating the Ulsan mayor election intervention case, the prosecution had ruled that Im Jong-seok, then the Chief of the Presidential Office, and former Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk were not guilty. However, when the 1st trial court issued a guilty verdict against Representative Hwang and others in November 2023, the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office issued a re-investigation order in January last year, resulting in the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office resuming the investigation.