From the left in the photo: Cho Kuk, leader of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, lawyer Kang Yong-seok, and ‘Dodomam’ Kim Mina. (Newsis)
Attorney Kang Yong-seok, who was brought to trial on charges of accusing Cho Kuk, leader of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, of collusion between politics and a financial company, as well as on charges of false accusation instigation, was sentenced to guilty in the second trial as well.
On the 17th, the 4-1 Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court of Appeals (Chief Judges Yang Ji-jung, Eom Cheol, Lee Hun-jae) sentenced Kang to a fine of 5 million won, the same as in the first trial, for defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act.
The court pointed out, “The defendant did not even make thorough efforts to verify the facts after receiving a simple email tip.”
Previously, in 2019, Kang raised suspicions of collusion in his YouTube channel, claiming that Kim Kyung-rok, a private banker at Korea Investment & Securities and asset manager for Cho’s couple, was a relative of the owner family of Korea Investment & Securities. In response, Korea Investment & Securities stated, “Mr. Kim is unrelated to the owner family,” and sued Kang.
The same court sentenced Kang to 6 months in prison with a 2-year suspended sentence for the charge of false accusation instigation, similar to the first trial.
The court stated, “The defendant has a history of being punished for similar offenses as a lawyer, and yet, without much sense of guilt, he again instigated false accusations, which makes the nature of the crime considerably bad.”
Kang was accused of inciting Kim Mina, a famous blogger known as ‘Dodomam’, in 2015 to falsely accuse CEO A of a securities firm of rape and injury.
In court, Kim testified, “Kang instigated the false accusation for the purpose of settlement money, and I was neither raped nor sexually assaulted by Mr. A.”