Prosecution Calls It an "Unprecedented Key Election"... Sentences Requested: Song Cheol-ho 6 Years, Hwang Un-ha 5 Years
The first trial verdict for former Ulsan Mayor Song Cheol-ho and Democratic Party lawmaker Hwang Un-ha, who were indicted on suspicion of interfering in the Ulsan mayoral election, will be announced on the 29th.
The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 21-3 (Presiding Judges Kim Mi-kyung, Heo Kyung-moo, Kim Jeong-gon) will hold the sentencing hearing from 2 p.m. on the same day for former Mayor Song and lawmaker Hwang, as well as Democratic Party lawmaker Han Byung-do, former Blue House Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Park Hyung-cheol, former Blue House Civil Affairs Secretary Baek Won-woo, former Ulsan City Deputy Mayor Song Byung-gi, former Senior Administrative Officer Jang Hwan-seok of the Balanced Development Secretary’s Office, and former Administrative Officer Moon of the Civil Affairs Secretary’s Office, all charged with violating the Public Official Election Act and other offenses.
The prosecution charged that ahead of the 2018 local elections, the Blue House ordered the police to conduct a directed investigation against then-Mayor Kim Ki-hyun (currently leader of the People Power Party) to help the election of former Mayor Song, who is a close friend of former President Moon Jae-in for 30 years, committing various illegal and illicit acts.
Additionally, the prosecution believes that internal information from the central or local government was illegally used in the process of establishing former Mayor Song’s election pledges.
At the previous sentencing hearing, the prosecution stated, "By abusing the police authority to collect corruption intelligence, an unprecedented government-led election undermining fairness was conducted. Former Mayor Song led the crime and requested investigations from lawmaker Hwang, ultimately winning the election unfairly and benefiting substantially. Beyond mere legal violations, this severely damaged the constitutional values of electoral fairness and political neutrality of public officials, yet former Mayor Song shows no remorse," and requested a six-year prison sentence for former Mayor Song.
Regarding lawmaker Hwang, the prosecution pointed out, "As a senior police officer required to maintain political neutrality, he abused investigative power for political ambition and intervened in the election, resulting in becoming a member of the National Assembly. Contrary to the propositions he presented during the adjustment of investigative authority between the prosecution and police, he exercised investigative power in a biased manner according to a predetermined conclusion," and requested the court to sentence him to four years in prison for violating the Public Official Election Act, and one year in prison with one year disqualification for abuse of authority and obstruction of official duties, to be sentenced separately.
For lawmaker Han and former Secretary Park, the prosecution requested one year and six months in prison each; for former Secretary Baek, three years in prison; for former Deputy Mayor Song, two years and six months in prison for violating the Public Official Election Act and one year in prison for obstruction of official duties by deception; and for former Administrative Officers Jang and Moon, one year in prison each.
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