Former golfer Park Se-ri's father, Park Jun-cheol, who was indicted on charges of taking part in a project to establish an international golf school by using the name of the Park Se-ri Hope Foundation without permission, received a suspended prison sentence at the first trial.
On Jan. 17, Judge Kim Ji-young of the Daejeon District Court Criminal Division 6, a presiding judge, said Park, who was brought to trial on charges including forging private documents and using forged private documents, was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years.
Prosecutors said that between June 2021 and July 2023, Park acted as if he had the authority of the chair of the Park Se-ri Hope Foundation and pushed to establish the Saemangeum International Golf School. In the process, he allegedly had a seal made in the foundation's name and affixed it to related documents.
After receiving a proposal to participate from a company promoting the golf school, Park submitted a letter of intent to an administrative agency and even signed an agreement between companies, but it was confirmed that he had not been delegated any authority by the foundation and did not even hold a position within it. After belatedly identifying this, the Park Se-ri Hope Foundation filed a criminal complaint against Park with police in Sept. 2023.
During the trial, Park argued that he acted for his daughter and that he had implicit authorization from the foundation, but the court did not accept this.
Judge Kim determined that Park did not have the authority to lawfully draft documents in the foundation's name and that, even if the foundation had known about the project, it is hard to conclude it would naturally have consented.
Judge Kim said, "It appears the defendant proceeded in this case despite knowing there was no legal authority," adding, "However, the documents the defendant prepared were a letter of intent or a statement confirming facts, and it is difficult to view them as documents imposing legal obligations on the foundation. We also considered that no substantial damage appears to have occurred to the foundation," explaining the reasoning for the sentence.