Hong Nam-pyo, the mayor of Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, who was acquitted of violating the Public Official Election Act in the first trial, was found guilty in the appeals trial on the 18th. The Changwon branch of the Busan High Court’s Criminal Division 1 (Chief Judge Min Dal-ki) overturned the not-guilty verdict from the first trial and sentenced Mayor Hong to six months in prison with a one-year suspension. If an elected official is confirmed to have violated the Public Official Election Act with a fine of 1 million won or more, they face disqualification from office.
Mayor Hong was charged during the June 1, 2022, local elections with offering a public position to a regional politician, who was mentioned as a potential candidate, in exchange for not running in the election. The first trial court acknowledged that a member of Hong’s campaign, referred to as A, proposed an economic advisor position to politician B, but they ruled Hong not guilty due to insufficient evidence of his involvement.
Following the first trial verdict, the prosecution appealed, citing errors in fact-finding and legal interpretation. In the appeal’s trial in October, the prosecution argued that there was a serious promise regarding the public position and sought a sentence of eight months in prison. The appeals court found that Mayor Hong was aware in advance of the proposal made to B not to run for election. They also considered B as “a person intending to become a candidate.”
During the trial, B’s legal team mentioned a political broker, Nam Tae-kyun. They argued that in March and early April 2022, the Future Korea Institute under Nam conducted three public opinion polls, where Hong unexpectedly emerged with significant support, even though he had no prior appearances in surveys or connections in the area apart from high school.
In response, Mayor Hong’s side refuted these claims, asserting that during the 8th nationwide local elections in 2022, they did not commission or distribute any poll results to the media, dismissing the arguments about matching poll results by recruiting B as a misinterpretation.