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Cho Kuk calls for ‘regime change’ before beginning two-year prison term

Published: 16 Dec. 2024, 11:55 Updated: 16 Dec. 2024, 14:18

Cho greets his supporters at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, before being imprisoned at the detention center on Monday. [NEWS1]

Former minor party leader Cho Kuk called for “regime change” before beginning his two-year prison sentence on Monday.

“As the former head of the Rebuilding Korea Party, I urge the public to prevent the ruling People Power Party, the accomplice of insurrection, from maintaining its power,” Cho told reporters in front of the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, on Monday morning.

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a two-year prison sentence against Cho Kuk on charges of fabricating official documents to boost his children's university admissions and interfering in a state audit of a Busan city official while serving as a senior Blue House official in 2017.

Cho also said he plans to “strengthen his body and mind through reading, exercising and self-reflection” during his incarceration. Around 200 supporters gathered outside the detention center to show their support.

The Seoul Central District Court had previously granted Cho’s request to delay his imprisonment, allowing him to report to the detention center on Monday. After a brief stay at the Seoul Detention Center, Cho is expected to be transferred to Anyang Prison, near his residential address.

In addition to the prison sentence, the Supreme Court also fined him 6 million won ($4,000).

Under the Public Official Election Act, a lawmaker who receives a fine exceeding 1 million won or a prison sentence of any length forfeits their parliamentary seat.

Cho's conviction also bars him from running in elections for five years, effectively disqualifying him from the next presidential election. He is expected to be released on Dec. 15, 2026.

Since all of the Rebuilding Korea Party’s parliamentary seats were won through proportional representation, the party has decided to transfer Cho's seat to Baek Sun-hee, a professor at Seoul Theological University who was ranked 13th on the party's proportional representation candidate list.

BY WOO JI-WON, KIM EUN-BIN [[email protected]]