'Illegal Bribery' Fine Imposed on Spouse of Candidate Josangrae for Gokseong County Governor

The spouse of Jo Sang-rae, a former candidate for Gokseong County Governor in Jeonnam, who provided illegal money and goods during the local elections, was sentenced to a fine.

According to the legal community on the 15th, the 12th Criminal Division of the Gwangju District Court sentenced A (66, female) to a fine of 800,000 won for violating the Public Official Election Act.

Election campaign staff member B (64), who was also charged with the same offense, was fined 4,000,000 won.

They were prosecuted for visiting a voter who operates a farm in Gokseong County, Jeonnam, in April last year and providing 200,000 won in cash.

Although the money was given to the voter under the pretext of condolence money for a father-in-law’s funeral, the actual purpose was to ask for support for candidate Jo.

B is also accused of giving 300,000 won in cash to another voter at his office in Gokseong, Jeonnam, in May of the same year, with the intent to help candidate Jo win the election.

The court pointed out that this was "a serious crime that directly undermines the legislative purpose of the election law, which is to contribute to the maintenance and development of democratic politics."

It also stated, "Considering comprehensively that candidate Jo lost the election, so the defendant’s crime did not significantly affect the election result, and the amount of money involved was not large."