Top court to rule on Seoul education chief's bribery case next week

The Supreme Court will deliver its final ruling on the election bribery case of Seoul's education chief Kwak No-hyun next week, the court said Tuesday.

The ruling will be made known on Sept. 27 in the No. 1 court room.

Kwak, the liberal-minded head of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, was indicted last year on charges of bribing a fellow liberal candidate to drop out of the election for the seat in 2010.

After rival candidate Park Myoung-gee withdrew a few days before the election day after receiving 200 million won ($178,842), Kwak won the seat by a narrow margin.

Despite Kwak's claims the money given to Park by Kwak's aide was not payment for Park's withdrawal, a regional Seoul court in January fined him 30 million won for violating the election law.

A Seoul appellate court in April sentenced Kwak to a one-year prison term, saying the lower regional court's fine was too light.

Under the election law, the education chief will lose his post if the top court hands down a punishment of at least 1 million won in fines. He will then also have to return about 3.52 billion won he received from the national election watchdog during his campaign. (Yonhap)