Supreme Court Overturns and Remands Second Trial of Cheonan Mayor Park Sang-don’s 'Suspended Prison Sentence', Partially Acquitting

The Supreme Court overturned the second trial ruling that sentenced Park Sang-don, the mayor of Cheonan, to lose his mayoral position on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act.

Sangdon Park, Mayor of Cheonan.

On the 12th, the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Seo Kyung-hwan) overturned the original ruling that sentenced Mayor Park to one year in prison with a two-year probation in the appeal trial on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act, and remanded the case to the Daejeon High Court.

Mayor Park was prosecuted for planning and executing election campaigns using his position as a public official during the 8th nationwide simultaneous local elections (election campaigning using public official status) and for including Cheonan City's unemployment and employment rates in election brochures while omitting the population criteria (false statement offense).

The first trial court acquitted Mayor Park, but the second trial court reversed the decision and found him guilty. The second trial court judged that Mayor Park had 'indirect intent' regarding the false statement offense. This was because Mayor Park could have reasonably anticipated that the promotional materials might be false but neglected his duty to verify the truthfulness of the content.

However, the Supreme Court judged differently from the second trial court regarding Mayor Park's charge of 'false statement for election purposes,' which the second trial court found guilty of, stating that it is difficult to recognize indirect intent.

The charge for which the Supreme Court denied intent relates to the allegation that, ahead of the Cheonan mayoral election held on June 1, 2022, Mayor Park published false information about his achievements by citing Cheonan City's employment and unemployment statistics in promotional materials and booklet-type election brochures while omitting the 'metropolitan city with a population of over 500,000' criterion.

The court stated, "For indirect intent to be recognized, the defendant must have been aware that the metropolitan city criterion was omitted in the promotional and election materials. If the defendant was unaware, then there is no recognition of the possibility of the occurrence of the criminal fact itself, so indirect intent cannot be acknowledged."

It further stated, "The part of the original ruling concerning the false statement for election purposes against Mayor Park should be overturned. Since the original court sentenced a single punishment for this part and the other guilty parts that are in a concurrent offense relationship, all parts of the original ruling concerning Mayor Park should be overturned."

A Supreme Court official said, "This reaffirms the existing legal principle that in the crime of false statement, if there is no recognition of the possibility of the occurrence of the criminal fact regarding the false statement, indirect intent cannot be acknowledged."

As the Supreme Court overturned some of Mayor Park's charges on the grounds of innocence, it is expected that the sentence previously handed down in the second trial will be reduced in the retrial after remand.