[Exclusive] Another 900,000-won fine ... Mapo mayor punished for election-law violation for a second time

[Financial News] Yoo Dong-gyun, mayor of Mapo District in Seoul and a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, has again been sentenced to a fine of 900,000 won for violating the Public Official Election Act, it has been confirmed. This is the second time he has received a 900,000-won fine for violating the same law, following a sentence in 2024. Under the act, a person elected to office loses the position if sentenced to a fine of at least 1 million won, but Yoo has twice avoided that outcome by a margin of 100,000 won.
According to legal sources on the 25th, the 11th Criminal Division of the Seoul Western District Court, presided over by Judge Yoon Ung-gi, sentenced Yoo to a fine of 900,000 won on August 28 after he was indicted on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act. Prosecutors had sought a fine of 1.5 million won, but the court imposed a lower penalty. With neither side appealing, the ruling became final on September 5.
Yoo was put on trial on charges of sending a large volume of campaign-related text messages on April 9 last year without having registered as a preliminary candidate in the local elections. Over about 45 minutes, he sent messages 22 times to a total of 2,022 phone numbers.
The messages described key policy achievements he had pursued while serving as Mapo District mayor and introduced him as someone planning to run for the post. The Public Official Election Act prohibits anyone who is neither a candidate nor a preliminary candidate from sending campaign texts to more than 20 recipients via an automated mass-texting system.
The court noted that Yoo sent messages to about five times the number of people permitted by law and repeated the act 22 times, finding that “the offense is by no means minor.” It also treated his prior election-law violation as an aggravating factor in sentencing.
However, the court found that the messages had been sent about a year before election day and that most recipients did not live in Mapo District, so their actual impact on the election was not substantial. Most of the messages explained his policy achievements rather than making an overt appeal for support, and the court also took into account that Yoo admitted to the offense and expressed remorse.
Yoo had previously been indicted, among other charges, for increasing the number of recipients of commendations for contributions to the COVID-19 response from 80 to 800 ahead of the 2022 local elections and using the awards for election purposes. In August 2024, the court imposed fines of 900,000 won for violating the Public Official Election Act and 3 million won for violating the Personal Information Protection Act. The same sentences were upheld on appeal the following January.
In both cases, the court found Yoo guilty of violating election law but imposed a fine of 900,000 won. In particular, in this case the court imposed the same fine despite treating his prior record of punishment and repeated violations as aggravating circumstances. Under the Public Official Election Act, an election is invalidated if a person elected to office receives a final sentence of a fine of at least 1 million won for a crime related to that election.
Yoo is a politician with a 30-year career who entered local politics as a Mapo District council member in 1995 and went on to serve as a Seoul Metropolitan Council member and district mayor, among other roles. He was elected Mapo District mayor in 2018, lost the 2022 local elections, and was re-elected in this year's June 3 local elections, returning to the post after four years.
Meanwhile, the Seoul Mapo Police Station is investigating Yoo in a separate election-law case. He is suspected of campaigning during a visit last April to the main hall of a temple in Mapo District while wearing campaign clothing and serving as a preliminary candidate. Yoo acknowledged visiting the temple at the time but said he had not campaigned.
Financial News tried to contact Yoo to confirm his position but was unable to reach him.
[email protected] Choi Seung-han, Seong-hyun Park Reporter