Prosecutors seek jail term for Jeju governor, again

Jeju Gov. Oh Young-hoon responds to reporters' questions as he leaves the Jeju District Court on Jan. 22, after he was handed a fine of 900,000 won for violating election laws. [YONHAP]

Prosecutors on Wednesday requested an 18-month prison sentence for Jeju Gov. Oh Young-hoon at the first hearing of his appeal to the Gwangju High Court against his conviction on charges of violating election laws.

Oh, who ran and won as the liberal Democratic Party’s candidate in the Jeju governor’s race during local government elections held on June 1, 2022, was handed a fine of 900,000 won ($670) in January. A lower court found him guilty of violating the Public Official Election Act and the Political Fund Act.

Both the Jeju governor and the prosecution appealed, with Oh arguing that the prosecution’s case against him was politically motivated.

On the other hand, prosecutors are seeking a stiffer sentence against Oh. Under Korean law, an official’s election is only invalidated if he or she receives a prison sentence or a fine of minimum 1 million won for election law violations.

In their original indictment, prosecutors accused Oh of electioneering before the state-sanctioned campaigning period, which spans 14 days before voting day for nationwide local government elections. In 2022, the earliest day a candidate could legally hold a campaign event was May 18.

The event that landed Oh in trouble was a ceremony held on May 16, 2022, where he highlighted his aim to get 20 companies to file their listings in Jeju. That promise was a key pledge of Oh’s gubernatorial campaign.

As part of their appeal to the Gwangju High Court, prosecutors are also seeking 10-month prison sentences for the chief of Jeju’s representative office in Seoul and the island’s special adviser for external cooperation, who are accused of collaborating with Oh in organizing the ceremony to mobilize corporate support for his candidacy.

Prosecutors have also asked the court to impose a fine of 12.5 million won on a management consulting executive who planned the event, as well as a yearlong prison sentence for the director of a nonprofit organization who allegedly gave 5.5 million won to pay for the ceremony.

The indictment also accused Oh of running an illegal pre-election campaign during the April 2022 primary period which solicited endorsements from organizations and companies in Jeju, allegedly to shape public opinion on the island in his favor.

Oh and the four other people indicted by the prosecution received less severe penalties from the Jeju District Court, which issued the initial ruling on the case.

The chief of Jeju’s representative office in Seoul and the island’s special adviser for external cooperation were handed fines of 5 million and 4 million won, while the nonprofit director received a six-month suspended prison sentence. The management consulting executive was handed a fine of 3 million won.

The Jeju governor argued that he was not involved in the planning process for the May 16 ceremony, and that the support he received from companies and civic organizations was voluntarily offered, rather than solicited.

The Gwangju High Court is expected to issue its ruling on the case on April 24.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]