Park Changuk, Former North Gyeongsang Provincial Assemblyman, Sentenced to One Year in Prison for Requesting Party Nomination from "Geonjin Beopsa"
Raised 100 Million Won Through Borrowed-Name Transactions for Nomination Request
Convicted of Violating the Real Name Financial Transactions Act
Former North Gyeongsang Provincial Assemblyman Park Chang-uk, who requested a nomination from the ruling People Power Party (PPP) through Jeon Sung-bae, also known as "Geonjin Beopsa," ahead of the June 1, 2022 local elections and handed over 100 million won, has had his prison sentence finalized for conducting illegal transactions under borrowed names while raising the funds.
The Supreme Court’s third division (Presiding Justice Oh Seok-jun) on September 2 upheld the lower court’s ruling, which found Park guilty of violating the Real Name Financial Transactions Act and sentenced him to one year in prison.
Park was indicted in September last year by Special Prosecutor Min Jung-ki’s team for violating the Political Funds Act, having, through a broker surnamed Kim, asked Jeon for a PPP nomination ahead of the 2022 local elections, and, once nominated, provided Jeon with gifts of Korean beef and 100 million won in cash. In the course of preparing the funds to be given to Jeon, Park, in collusion with his spouse Seol, borrowed 100 million won from an acquaintance and, to conceal the transaction, split the amount into smaller transfers into bank accounts held by neighborhood residents, before withdrawing the money in cash — actions that also led to charges under the Real Name Financial Transactions Act.
However, both the first and second instance courts acquitted Park of violating the Political Funds Act. Although it was acknowledged that Park had given Jeon 100 million won in cash in return for facilitating the party nomination, the courts found that Jeon was not a "person engaged in political activity" as defined by the Political Funds Act, and the funds could not be clearly regarded as "political funds." They also determined there was no evidence, either formally or informally, that Jeon was involved in campaign activities for any specific candidate in relation to the June 1 local elections.
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Both Park and the special prosecution appealed, but the Supreme Court upheld the previous rulings. Park’s spouse, Seol, who was indicted alongside him, also had her sentence of six months in prison, suspended for two years, finalized for violating the Real Name Financial Transactions Act. Meanwhile, the broker Kim was also acquitted in relation to the nomination case, but received a confirmed sentence of one year and four months in prison for violating the Attorney-at-Law Act by accepting valuables from a contractor in exchange for promising, via Jeon, to secure a commission for work ordered by NongHyup.
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