The Supreme Court upheld a suspended prison sentence for lawyer Kang Yong-seok, who was prosecuted on charges of providing money and goods to companies that assisted with election campaigning ahead of the June 1, 2022 local elections.
According to the legal community on the 11th, the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Noh Kyung-pil) confirmed on the 27th of last month the original court ruling that sentenced Kang, who was indicted for violating the Public Official Election Act, to 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 3-year suspension.
Kang, who ran as an independent candidate for governor of Gyeonggi Province during the election, was charged with illegally using part of the 660 million won transferred to a company operated by his brother-in-law for election campaign expenses.
He was also accused of providing money and goods by inflating service fees paid to companies that helped with the election campaign by tens of millions of won, and paying 3 million won to an employee of the YouTube channel 'Garosero Yeonguso' as compensation for election-related work.
Earlier, the first and second trial courts found Kang guilty and sentenced him to 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 3-year suspension. However, he was acquitted of charges related to illegally providing food to campaign workers and submitting false documents to the election commission. Both Kang and the prosecution appealed, but the Supreme Court dismissed both appeals, finding no issues with the second trial ruling.
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