Seoul Appeals Court Upholds Yoon Suk Yeol Election Law Conviction With Suspended 18-Month Sentence
Seoul, South Korea — A Seoul High Court panel on November 4 dismissed former President Yoon Suk Yeol's appeal and upheld his conviction for violating the Public Official Election Act by publishing false statements during his 2022 presidential campaign. The court kept the lower court's sentence from July: 18 months in prison, suspended for three years.
The court found two statements to be false. At a Kwanhun Club debate on December 14, 2021, Yoon denied having introduced lawyer Lee Nam-seok to Yoon Woo-jin, a former head of the Yongsan tax office. In an interview at a Buddhist forum launch on January 17, 2022, he said he had been introduced to the shaman Jeon Seong-bae, known as Geonjin, by a party official and had never met him together with his wife, Kim Keon Hee. Judges ruled both statements untrue and said Yoon's repeated excuses had infringed voters' right to make an informed choice and undermined the fairness of the election.
The case was prosecuted by a special counsel team, which at the final appeal hearing on October 13 asked the court to keep the first-trial sentence, arguing the falsehoods should be seen as having affected the outcome given approval-rating trends and the narrow vote margin. Yoon's lawyers called the ruling unjust and said they would appeal to the Supreme Court within the seven-day window.
If the Supreme Court finalizes the sentence, Yoon's 2022 election victory will be voided, and his People Power Party will have to return 39.7 billion won (about $29.6 million) in state-reimbursed campaign expenses to the National Election Commission.
Yoon is separately on trial over his December 2024 martial law declaration. A district court sentenced him to life in prison in February for leading an insurrection, and the special counsel has again sought the death penalty in that appeal, which remains before the Seoul High Court.
Related: Special Counsel Again Seeks Death Penalty in Yoon Suk Yeol Insurrection Appeal
Source: Yonhap News Agency
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：尹锡悦2022年3月8日总统竞选期间的电视节目画面。CC BY 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Yoon Suk Yeol during the 2022 presidential campaign, March 8, 2022. CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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