Kang Sun-woo and Kim Kyung Sent to Prosecution in Custody Over Alleged 100 Million Won Nomination Bribe

[The Financial News] Independent lawmaker Kang Sun-woo and former Seoul Metropolitan Council member Kim Kyung, who are accused of exchanging 100 million won in return for a party nomination, have been sent to the prosecution in custody.
According to reporting by The Financial News on the 11th, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Public Crime Investigation Unit on that morning referred Kang and former council member Kim to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office in custody. They are suspected of violating the Political Funds Act and the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, and of breach-of-trust bribery in connection with receiving and providing improper benefits. A former aide to Kang, identified only by the surname Nam, was also referred on the same charges.
Police concluded that the nomination process constituted internal party affairs rather than official duties, and therefore applied breach-of-trust bribery charges instead of conventional bribery. Separately, they plan to continue investigating allegations of "split donations" and other related suspicions even after the case is handed over to prosecutors.
Kang and former council member Kim are accused of meeting at a hotel in Yongsan District, Seoul, in January 2022, ahead of the local elections, and exchanging 100 million won in cash in return for a party nomination. At the time, Kang was a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). Kim later received a sole nomination from the DPK as its Seoul Metropolitan Council candidate in Kang’s constituency of Gangseo-gu, Seoul, and went on to win the election.
The allegations surfaced in December last year when an audio recording was made public in which Kang and lawmaker Kim Byung-kee, then Secretary of the Candidate Nomination Management Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea, discussed how to handle the alleged nomination bribe.
During the investigation, former council member Kim is said to have largely admitted the charges, including by submitting a voluntary confession. Kang, by contrast, has maintained that she only realized later that the shopping bag contained cash and that she intended to return the money.
After their arrest, no face-to-face cross-examination has been conducted among Kang, former council member Kim, and Nam, according to what has been learned.
425_sama@fnnews.com Choi Seung-han Reporter