Democratic Party's Yoon Kwan-seok in 'Money Envelope Suspicion' Sentenced to 2 Years in First Trial... Court Rules "All Charges Guilty"

Court: "Trust in Party Democracy Severely Damaged... Strict Punishment Needed"

Independent lawmaker Yoon Kwan-seok, who was indicted and detained over the ‘Democratic Party Convention Money Envelope Scandal,’ was sentenced to two years in prison in the first trial.

Independent lawmaker Yoon Kwan-seok is appearing at the Seoul Central District Court on August 4 last year for the substantive hearing of the arrest warrant as a key suspect in the 'money envelope incident.' Photo by Huh Young-han younghan@

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 21-2 (Presiding Judges Kim Jeong-gon, Kim Mi-kyung, Heo Kyung-moo) on the 31st sentenced Yoon, who is charged with violating the Political Parties Act, to two years in prison, and former Korea Water Resources Corporation Standing Auditor Kang Rae-gu to one year and eight months in prison.

The court recognized all charges against Yoon and Kang as guilty. The court stated, "The defendants who led the crime bear very heavy responsibility as they severely damaged the public’s trust in party democracy," adding, "Strict punishment for this crime is necessary to sound the alarm against past practices and prevent old habits."

Earlier, the prosecution requested the court to sentence Yoon to five years in prison, and Kang to one year in prison for violating the Political Funds Act, and two years in prison plus a fine of 10 million won for other offenses.

Yoon was indicted and detained on charges of receiving a total of 60 million won from primary campaign officials to provide to incumbent Democratic Party lawmakers to support former party leader Song Young-gil’s election ahead of the Democratic Party convention in May 2021.

It was investigated that when concerns arose about former leader Song’s nationwide delegate support rate being overtaken between April 24 and 28 of that year, just before the election, Yoon proposed to Kang and former Democratic Party Deputy Secretary-General Lee Jeong-geun, among others, "Since the rival candidate’s camp is distributing 3 million won to each lawmaker, we should also give that amount to our lawmakers." The prosecution included this in former leader Song’s indictment as well.

The court found all the prosecution’s charges guilty, including that Park Yong-soo, a former aide to former leader Song, received 50 million won from a businessman Kim, identified as a so-called ‘sponsor,’ and combined it with camp funds to provide Yoon with 60 million won in two installments.

During the trial, a recording suggesting that former leader Song was aware of the distribution of money envelopes within the party was also revealed. In the recording, Kang said during a phone call with former Deputy Secretary-General Lee on April 10, 2021, "I told Young-gil that Seong-man hyung connected me, so I distributed some money. When I said, ‘I greeted him with what Seong-man hyung prepared,’ he said, ‘Well done.’"

Based on this recording, the prosecution judged that Kang provided funds he received from then-Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Seong-man to regional headquarters chiefs in March 2021 and reported this to former leader Song.

Kang is charged with conspiring with Yoon and Lee to distribute 94 million won in money and goods to lawmakers, primary campaign regional headquarters chiefs, and regional situation room chiefs.