Former Gangnam District Mayor Shin Yeon-hee, Accused of Defaming President Moon Jae-in, Fined 9 Million Won in Retrial

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Former Seoul Gangnam District Mayor Shin Yeon-hee, who was prosecuted for spreading false information about President Moon Jae-in ahead of the last presidential election, was sentenced to a fine in the retrial after remand.

The Criminal Division 2 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Yoon Seung-eun, Kim Dae-hyun, Ha Tae-han) on the 25th found former Mayor Shin guilty of violating the Public Official Election Act and sentenced him to a fine of 9 million won. Regarding the defamation charge under the Information and Communications Network Act, the court acknowledged guilt but exempted the sentence. The sentence was slightly reduced compared to the previous appellate court before remand, which had sentenced him to a fine of 10 million won.

Former Mayor Shin was prosecuted on charges of spreading false posts about then-presidential candidate Moon Jae-in over 200 times via KakaoTalk from December 2016 to March 2017 with the intent to defeat Moon in the election.

The first trial sentenced Shin to a fine of 8 million won, ruling that messages such as "Candidate Moon, who served as Chief of Staff to former President Roh Moo-hyun, provided large-scale funds only to pro-government media and created a presidential slush fund" constituted violations of the Public Official Election Act and defamation.

The appellate court before remand upheld most of the first trial's judgment but increased the fine to 10 million won, ruling that Shin's messages sent before President Moon registered as a preliminary candidate for the presidential primary also violated the Public Official Election Act.

The Supreme Court recognized no problem with the appellate court's judgment on guilt but pointed out that the sentence for defamation charges should be separated from the sentence for the Public Official Election Act violation, overturned the ruling, and sent the case back to the Seoul High Court.

Accordingly, the retrial court, after re-examining the case, sentenced Shin to a fine for the election law violation charge while exempting the sentence for the defamation charge.