Accusation of Announcing False Information
Seo Geoseok, the former superintendent of education for North Jeolla Special Self-Governing Province, who was put on trial for announcing false information during the 2022 superintendent election, has had his election nullified by a final court ruling.
The Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Kwon Youngjun) on June 26 upheld the lower court's decision, confirming a fine of 5 million won for Seo, who was indicted for violating the Local Education Autonomy Act.
Article 49 of the Local Education Autonomy Act applies the Public Official Election Act to superintendent elections. As a result, if a person is convicted of an election-related crime and receives a confirmed fine of 1 million won or more, the election result is invalidated, just as with violations of the election law.
Seo was brought to trial on charges of falsely answering "There is no such fact" to a rival candidate's question, "Did you assault Professor Lee Gwija while serving as president of Jeonbuk National University?" during the 2022 superintendent election debate.
After the debate, when allegations of assault became a central issue in the superintendent election, Seo was also accused of repeatedly posting false statements on social networking services (SNS), such as "I have never committed violence against a fellow professor."
The key witness in the case, Professor Lee, stated during the first trial that "I don't clearly remember if such an incident happened," but changed his testimony during the appeals trial, saying, "There was indeed an assault."
The first trial acquitted Seo. However, the appeals court found that the assault had occurred and ruled Seo guilty of posting false information on SNS, sentencing him to a fine of 5 million won. The court, however, found him not guilty regarding his statement during the debate, reasoning that he was merely denying the rival candidate's allegation rather than actively making a false claim.
Both the prosecution and Seo appealed, but the Supreme Court dismissed both appeals, finding no error in the lower court's decision.
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