‘100 Million Won in Nomination Bribes’: Kang Sun-woo Sentenced to 21⁄2 Years, Kim Gyeong to 1 Year at First Trial; Both Detained in Court

[Financial News] Independent lawmaker Kang Sun-woo and Kim Gyeong, a former Seoul city council member, were sentenced to prison in their first trial on charges of giving and receiving 100 million won under the guise of nomination money.
Judge Lee Chun-geun, presiding over Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Court, sentenced Kang to two years and six months in prison and ordered the forfeiture of 100 million won on the 14th, after she was indicted on charges including violating the Political Funds Act. Kim, the former city council member, who was indicted alongside her, was sentenced to one year in prison, while a former aide to Kang, identified only by the surname Nam, received an eight-month prison term suspended for two years.
Judge Lee revoked their bail and ordered them detained in court, citing concerns that Kang and Kim might destroy evidence or flee. The two, who had been tried without being held in custody, were taken back into custody in court immediately after the first-trial verdict.
Kang was indicted on suspicion of personally meeting Kim, then a city council member, at a hotel in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, around January ahead of the eighth nationwide local elections in June 2022, and receiving a shopping bag containing 100 million won in cash. At the time, Kang served on the Democratic Party of Korea’s nomination management committee for Seoul Metropolitan Council candidates.
Kim later received an uncontested nomination to run in the Seoul district of Gangseo-gu, which is part of Kang Sun-woo’s National Assembly constituency, and was ultimately elected to the city council in the local elections. Nam, who was Kang’s aide at the time, was accused of arranging the meeting between the two and being involved in the transfer of money and valuables.
At the previous closing arguments hearing, prosecutors sought a four-year prison term. They charged Kang Sun-woo, who received money and valuables in exchange for her nomination authority, with violating the Political Funds Act, the Act on the Prohibition of Improper Solicitation and Receipt of Money and Valuables, and the Criminal Act’s provision on receiving benefits through breach of trust. Kim, the former city council member who provided money and valuables for the purpose of securing a nomination, was likewise charged with violating the Political Funds Act and the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, as well as with providing benefits through breach of trust under the Criminal Act.
The first-trial court found Kang and Kim guilty. It explained, in particular, that “the fact that a large sum of 100 million won was received, that they denied the crime and showed no remorse, and that the money was used for personal purposes were among the circumstances weighed against them.”


[email protected] Lee Chang-hoon Reporter