Court Recognizes 'Moon Cheongwadae Intervention' in Ulsan Mayor Election... Song Cheol-ho and Hwang Un-ha Sentenced to 3 Years Imprisonment (Comprehensive)

Court: "Police organization and Presidential Secretariat's public functions privately used for profit"
Song Cheol-ho and Hwang Un-ha: "Unacceptable ruling... Only prosecution's one-sided claims accepted"

The court acknowledged that the Moon Jae-in administration's Blue House intervened in the Ulsan mayoral election. Song Cheol-ho, the former mayor of Ulsan who led the election interference, and Hwang Un-ha, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who conducted the so-called 'directive investigation,' were sentenced to three years in prison. However, the court did not detain the two in custody, citing no risk of evidence destruction or flight. This comes 3 years and 10 months after the prosecution referred the case to trial.

Former Ulsan Mayor Song Cheol-ho is attending the sentencing trial for allegations of the Blue House's interference in the Ulsan mayoral election and violations of the Public Official Election Act at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong, Seoul, on the 29th. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 21-3 (Presiding Judges Kim Mi-kyung, Heo Kyung-moo, Kim Jeong-gon) on the 29th sentenced former Mayor Song to three years in prison in the verdict for charges including violation of the Public Official Election Act. Hwang was sentenced to two years and six months for election law violations and six months for abuse of authority, in accordance with the separate sentencing provisions of the Public Official Election Act. Former Ulsan Deputy Mayor Song Byung-gi was also sentenced to a total of three years in prison.

Baek Won-woo, former Blue House Civil Affairs Secretary, who was accused of involvement in the directive investigation, was sentenced to two years in prison; Park Hyung-cheol, former Anti-Corruption Secretary, received one year in prison with a two-year probation; and Moon Mo, former administrative officer in the Civil Affairs Secretary’s office, was sentenced to ten months in prison with a two-year probation.

The court stated, "The act of election interference, which involved the police organization and the Presidential Secretariat’s official functions being privately used for their political interests to influence the exercise of voting rights, is a very serious crime," adding, "There is a significant public interest in imposing severe punishment to prevent such incidents from happening again."

It continued, "It is recognized that former Mayor Song and former Deputy Mayor Song conveyed former Mayor Kim Ki-hyun’s misconduct to Representative Hwang, requesting an investigation," and "Former Deputy Mayor Song collected related information, former Mayor Song passed that information to Representative Hwang, and Representative Hwang proceeded with investigations targeting associates of former Mayor Kim."

However, Han Byung-do, a Democratic Party member accused of urging a competitor to withdraw from the primary, was acquitted due to "lack of evidence to prove the charge."

Regarding the election interference allegations related to the industrial accident mother hospital project, the court judged, "There is no evidence that the involved parties conspired to adjust the timing of the announcement of the failure of the preliminary feasibility study, making it difficult to recognize guilt." Accordingly, former Blue House Social Policy Secretary Lee Jin-seok and former Senior Administrative Officer Jang Hwan-seok were acquitted. Former Mayor Song and others were also found not guilty on this charge.

The prosecution charged former Mayor Song and others with various illegal and illicit acts, including instructing the police to conduct a directive investigation against then-Mayor Kim Ki-hyun (currently the leader of the People Power Party) to help the election of Song, a longtime close friend of former President Moon Jae-in, ahead of the 2018 local elections.

Former Blue House Civil Affairs Secretary Baek Won-woo is attending the sentencing trial for allegations of Blue House interference in the Ulsan mayoral election and violations of the Public Official Election Act at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 29th. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

In the indictment, the prosecution stated that the misconduct information about former Mayor Kim, delivered by former Deputy Mayor Song, was compiled into a crime intelligence report by former administrative officer Moon, and that the directive investigation was carried out as the information was passed from former Secretary Baek and former Secretary Park to Representative Hwang. The court fully recognized these as guilty.

The court also found guilty the charges that Representative Hwang made unfair personnel decisions against police officers who refused or showed a lukewarm attitude toward his orders to investigate associates of former Mayor Kim.

Regarding former Mayor Song, the court stated, "Despite having worked as a lawyer for a long time and running multiple times as a member of the National Assembly and mayoral candidate, knowing the importance of election fairness, he planned and led the crime to have the Presidential Secretariat intervene in the election for his own victory," adding, "He ultimately gained the greatest benefit by winning, did not reflect on his wrongdoing, and shifted blame to other defendants, making his guilt very serious."

Hwang Unha, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the sentencing trial for the 'alleged involvement of the Blue House in the Ulsan mayoral election' violation of the Public Official Election Act held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong, Seoul on the 29th. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

Regarding Representative Hwang, the court criticized, "Despite being responsible for supervising and directing police officers to perform their duties in compliance with the Constitution and laws, he colluded with former Mayor Song to abuse authority and issue improper work orders for the benefit of a specific party member, and abused personnel authority to demote diligent police officers," adding, "He betrayed public trust in the police organization and its fairness and showed no remorse, making his guilt severe."

Five Ulsan city officials accused of leaking internal Ulsan city information to former Mayor Song’s campaign for the purpose of election interference were found guilty and sentenced to suspended prison terms or fines.

Immediately after the verdict, when asked by reporters if he accepted the ruling, former Mayor Song said, "I do not accept any part of it," adding, "Only one-sided, biased claims were accepted. The claim that I conspired to favor the election through a specific investigation at the first meeting with Hwang Un-ha, Chief of Ulsan Police Agency, is an extremely one-sided assertion that was simply accepted as is. I will strive to reveal the truth through the appeal trial."

Representative Hwang said, "This is an unacceptable verdict, and it seems the court only accepted the prosecution’s one-sided claims and failed to properly consider the defendant’s legitimate defense," adding, "After reviewing the verdict, I will carefully analyze where the court erred and will prove my innocence through the appeal trial."