The incumbent mayor of Geoje, Park Jong-woo, has been stripped of his office after being convicted of violating election laws by illegally offering money during the election process. A new mayor for Geoje will be elected in a by-election next April. The Supreme Court’s third division confirmed the initial sentence of four months in prison with a two-year suspended sentence for Park, ruling that there was no misunderstanding of the legal principles regarding the violation of the Public Official Election Act.
When an elected official is confirmed to have violated this act and fined 1 million won or more, the election result is annulled, resulting in Park losing his position as mayor. Park was charged with offering a total of 13 million won in three instances, through an associate, to employees in a congressional office to gain an advantage in the party primaries leading up to the June 1, 2022, local elections.
The initial trial found Park guilty of conspiring to provide 3 million won of that amount in July 2021 and sentenced him to six months in prison with a two-year probation. However, the appeal court only recognized 2 million won of the payments, reducing the sentence to four months suspended for two years. Park denied giving money, claiming false testimony against him, but the court dismissed these claims. Initially, the prosecution did not indict Park due to insufficient evidence, but the court accepted an appeal from the Gyeongnam Election Commission, eventually leading to Park’s conviction and loss of office.