Prosecution Seeks 5-Year Prison Sentence for Oh Keo-don in Busan's 'Blacklist' Appeal Trial

The prosecution has requested the court to sentence former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don to five years in prison in the so-called 'Busan version of the blacklist' case, in which he allegedly forced executives of public institutions under his jurisdiction to submit collective resignations.

Former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don / Photo by Jin-hyung Kang aymsdream@

According to the legal community on the 17th, the prosecution recently demanded a five-year prison term at the sentencing hearing held by the 2-2 Criminal Division of the Busan High Court for former Mayor Oh. Park Tae-su, former special policy advisor, who was also indicted alongside Oh, was sentenced to two years in prison, and Shin Jin-gu, former external cooperation advisor, was sentenced to one year and six months in prison.

The prosecution pointed out, "The defendants collectively demanded resignation letters as a preliminary step for a personnel overhaul simply because the executives were appointed during the previous mayor's term," adding, "They proceeded despite the executives refusing to resign or requesting the return of their resignation letters."

They further stated, "The criminal facts related to the submission of resignation letters were specifically detailed for each targeted individual, including the time, place, and method," and added, "The collective acceptance of resignation letters could only proceed with former Mayor Oh's approval."

Former Mayor Oh and others were brought to trial on charges of coercing nine executives of six public institutions under the city government, whose terms remained from August 2018 to January 2019, to submit resignation letters after taking office. In the first trial, former Mayor Oh was sentenced to one year and six months in prison with a two-year probation. Former advisor Park received a one-year prison sentence with a two-year probation, and former advisor Shin was sentenced to ten months in prison with a two-year probation.

The appellate court sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 10 next year.