The Seoul High Court on the 4th rejected former President Yoon Suk Yeol's appeal in his Public Official Election Act case and upheld the first-trial sentence of 1 year and 6 months in prison, suspended for 3 years. Yoon's side said it would appeal to the Supreme Court as soon as possible; if the sentence is finalized, the People Power Party may have to return 39.7 billion won in election expense reimbursements.
According to Financial News, Criminal Division 2-1 of the Seoul High Court on the 4th declined to accept Yoon's appeal on the charge of spreading false statements. The case turns on whether remarks made during the 2022 presidential race were false; the first-trial court handed down the same sentence on July 27.
광고 문의 · 300×250The court found two sets of remarks false. One was an answer at a Kwanhun Club debate on December 14, 2021, about introducing lawyer Lee Nam-seok to a former police chief, Yoon Woo-jin; the other was a statement to reporters on January 17, 2022, that he had never met a figure known as the Geonjin monk together with his wife.
Why the court found the remarks false
The court judged the remarks by the overall impression they give voters. On the lawyer introduction, it found the fact established by a 2012 media interview and call and text records on a borrowed-name phone, and it rejected the defense claim that Yoon gave a false interview to protect former prosecutor Yoon Dae-jin.
On the Geonjin monk remarks, the court found that his wife had kept a close relationship with the figure since 2013 and that Yoon himself met and took advice from the figure through her introduction, so the explanation that they met only by chance during the campaign was judged plainly false. A legal argument that the debate was a single-invitee Q&A rather than a clash between candidates was also dismissed.
The 39.7 billion won and next steps
In sentencing, the court said the two remarks were key material for judging a senior official's morality and the possible influence of an informal network, and that with candidates' poll numbers close at the time the effect on the election was not small. It added that treating political fallout, such as nullified office or repayment of election costs, as a mitigating factor could distort sentencing.
Financial News reported that once a fine of 1 million won or more for an election crime is finalized, a party must return the election costs it was reimbursed, which for the People Power Party comes to 39.7 billion won. Yoon's side said there were errors in the evidence and the law and that it would appeal as quickly as possible; finality rests with the Supreme Court. The Democratic Party called the ruling proper and demanded an apology and immediate repayment, and a formal People Power Party position did not appear in the reports we checked.
