Top court orders review of Daejeon mayor's election law violation
By Lee Kyung-min
Kwon Sun-taik
The Supreme Court failed to uphold a high court confirmation of a guilty verdict against Daejeon Mayor Kwon Sun-taik for illegal campaigning, Friday.
Kwon will be able to keep his post while the Daejeon High Court reviews its earlier ruling. Elected officials are stripped of their posts upon being sentenced to a prison term or fined over 1 million won for Election Law violations.
The high court upheld a district court that sentenced Kwon to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, for illegal pre-electioneering.
The district and high courts found that a private research institution he set up in October 2012 was a de facto election campaign organization established to influence voters. He was also accused of receiving 159 million won in illegal political funds through the organization.
He was elected mayor in June 2014.
The top court, though, ruled that the aim of setting up the institution was not solely for winning the election.
“The establishment of the institution and its activities were carried out far from the election date. Also there is not enough evidence that Kwon explicitly expressed his intention to run for mayor during its meetings,” the court said.
“Although the group’s activity raised his political profile and recognition among residents, it is not recognized as a pre-electioneering move,” the court added.
It said restricting the people’s political activities too much can violate the basic right of political freedom guaranteed by the Constitution.