Shin Young-dae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, was sentenced to one year in prison, with a two-year probation, for the case involving the bribery of voters during the intra-party primary process before the 22nd general election. This ruling is the same as the first trial. If this ruling is confirmed, Representative Shin will be disqualified.
The Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 2 (Chief Judge Director General Kim Jong-ho) upheld the initial ruling, sentencing Kang, a former aide of Representative Shin, to a one-year prison sentence with a two-year probation, while dismissing both Kang's and the prosecution's appeals on the 28th.
The court stated, 'This case was carried out in an organized, planned manner and can be considered serious for violating the principle of the Public Official Election Act.' The court noted that given the importance of the intra-party primary due to the characteristics of the electoral district and the minor gap between candidates, the initial sentencing seems appropriate.
Previously, Kang was accused of providing 15 million won and several proxy mobile phones to Lee Mo, the former secretary-general of the Gyeongsangnam-do Sports Association for the Disabled, to systematically encourage and induce false responses regarding gender and age in an opinion poll held for the intra-party primary ahead of the December 2023 22nd general election. At that time, Representative Shin secured candidacy by winning a close contest against former representative Kim Ui-gyeom by a narrow margin of less than 1 percentage point.
In the first trial, Kang was sentenced to one year in prison, with a two-year probation, and ordered to complete 120 hours of community service in February. The court stated, 'Given the electoral district's characteristics and the importance of the intra-party primary, as well as the small gap between candidates, Kang's actions likely had a significant impact on the election, and the severity of the offense is not light.'
Meanwhile, if this ruling is confirmed, Representative Shin will be disqualified. According to the Public Official Election Act, if a member of the National Assembly's election campaign staff is sentenced to imprisonment or a fine of 3 million won or more, and the sentence is confirmed, the respective member is disqualified.