The Supreme Court upheld the original ruling that sentenced Park Woo-ryang, the mayor of Sinan County, to 8 months in prison with a 2-year probation for the 'preferential hiring' case. As a result, Mayor Park immediately lost his position.
On the 27th, the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice No Tae-ak) announced that it confirmed the original ruling which applied charges such as 'abuse of official authority to obstruct the exercise of rights' to Mayor Park, who received illicit requests and instructed Sinan County Office officials to proceed with hiring certain individuals as fixed-term workers and contract officials, thereby causing them to perform unauthorized duties, sentencing him to 8 months in prison with a 2-year probation.
Mayor Park was indicted on charges of receiving requests and issuing improper orders to affiliated officials while hiring nine fixed-term officials and contract workers at the county office from June 2019 to February 2020. He was also accused of damaging the resumes of prospective hires, which were seized during a search. Although he consistently denied the related charges, the first trial court sentenced him to 1 year in prison, and the second trial court sentenced him to 8 months in prison with a 2-year probation.
The second trial court also sentenced two county office officials who conspired with Mayor Park to a fine of 3 million won each. Another official was found guilty of obstructing the hiring process by interfering with the personnel officer’s duties to hire a specific person as a youth worker for the Sinan County Tourism Association at Mayor Park’s request, and was sentenced to 6 months in prison with a 2-year probation.
Previously, Mayor Park appealed the second trial ruling, but on this day, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, stating that the original ruling did not misinterpret the law or omit any judgment.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
