Following the Postponement of Sentencing on December 24 Last Year, Second Instance Court Seems to Struggle Again...
Gyeongnam Governor Kim Kyung-soo is responding to reporters' questions as he attends the appellate trial hearing held at the Seoul High Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 14th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@
[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] The appellate court ruling for Kim Kyung-soo, Governor of Gyeongnam Province, who was sentenced to prison for illegal public opinion manipulation, has been postponed once again.
The Criminal Division 2 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Cha Moon-ho, Kim Min-ki, Choi Hang-seok) announced on the 20th that the sentencing trial for Governor Kim, which was scheduled for the 21st, has been canceled and instead, the trial proceedings will resume on the same day.
The court had originally planned to deliver the appellate ruling on December 24 last year but postponed it for four weeks.
This time, the sentencing has been postponed once more, and the court has decided to reopen the trial proceedings entirely.
It is common for the court to resume trial proceedings if unexpected issues arise before sentencing or if the court deems additional clarification is needed regarding evidence presented by both the prosecution and the defendant.
Previously, Governor Kim was indicted on charges of conspiring with the Druking group to conduct illegal public opinion manipulation using the comment manipulation program "King Crab" from around November 2016 to help the Democratic Party's presidential candidate win the election.
After the 2017 presidential election, it is alleged that the comment manipulation continued until the local elections the following year, and that Governor Kim offered the Sendai Consul General position to Druking, who had requested the Osaka Consul General post, which is also a charge of violating the Public Official Election Act.
The first trial court found all charges against Governor Kim to be guilty, sentencing him to two years in prison for comment manipulation and ordering his immediate detention. For the Public Official Election Act violation, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison with a two-year probation.
On the other hand, Governor Kim's side has consistently denied all charges throughout both the first and second trials, claiming that he never saw the King Crab program, was unaware of the comment manipulation crimes, and never conspired in them.
After being released on bail during the appellate trial, Governor Kim has been undergoing trial without detention.
At the appellate trial's closing arguments held on November 14 last year, the special prosecution team led by Heo Ik-beom requested a prison sentence of three years and six months for Governor Kim on the comment manipulation charges and two years and six months for the Public Official Election Act violation charges.
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