Song Younggil Acquitted on Appeal of Illegal Political Funds and Cash Envelope Charges

First-instance partial guilty verdict overturned
"Seized evidence used to prove other charges"

Yonhap News Agency

Song Younggil, leader of the Pine Tree Party and former leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, who was indicted over allegations of distributing cash envelopes and receiving illegal political funds in connection with the 2021 Democratic Party of Korea leadership election, was acquitted on appeal.

The Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Yoon Sung-sik, Min Sung-cheol, and Kwon Hyuk-joon) on the 13th overturned the first-instance verdict that had sentenced Song to two years in prison on charges including bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes, and instead found him not guilty.

Song was indicted on charges of receiving 863 million won in illegal political funds through an outside support organization called the Institute for Peace and Livelihood Issues (IPLI), as well as on charges of involvement in the process of distributing 66.5 million won in cash envelopes to members of the National Assembly and others to secure victory in the party leadership election.

The court of first instance had found him guilty of violating the Political Funds Act through IPLI and sentenced him to two years in prison. However, it ruled him not guilty on the related charges tied to the cash envelope allegations, holding that the mobile phone recording file of Lee Jeonggeun, former deputy secretary-general of the Democratic Party of Korea and the key evidence in the cash envelope case, was inadmissible.

The appellate court found Song not guilty not only of the cash envelope allegations but also of the charges related to IPLI. The court held that the items seized by the prosecution were "illegally collected evidence" that had not gone through proper procedures. The bench stated, "Using evidence obtained under a warrant for the cash envelope case to prove the IPLI case, which has only a weak connection, is tantamount to using evidence without a warrant."

At the previous sentencing hearing, the prosecution had sought a nine-year prison term, the same sentence it requested at the first trial.