Fines Finalized for Members of Student Activist Group Who Disrupted Oh Se-hun's 20th General Election Campaign

▲ Members of Daejinyeon holding picket signs around then-candidate Oh Se-hun on March 23, 2020

Fines have been finalized for members of the Seoul Progressive Student Union (Daejinyeon) who staged picket protests at the campaign site of then-candidate Oh Se-hun of the United Future Party (predecessor of the People Power Party) ahead of the 20th general election in 2020.

The Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Uhm Sang-pil) finalized the lower court ruling last month that sentenced Yu, a 43-year-old Daejinyeon member indicted for violating the Public Official Election Act, to a fine of 6 million won.

Fines or suspended fines were also finalized for 15 other Daejinyeon members who were indicted together and underwent supreme court trials.

Yu and the others were charged with obstructing the campaign by holding protests in various parts of Gwangjin District in March 2020 ahead of the general election, carrying picket signs that took issue with then-candidate Oh giving a total of 1.2 million won to five apartment security guards and cleaners where he resided during a holiday.

In October of last year, the first trial delivered a guilty verdict, stating, "They damaged the fairness of the election by holding protests with the main purpose of campaigning against his defeat."

In June of this year, the appellate court also maintained the guilty verdict, stating, "While the intentions behind the acts in the charges are understandable, punishment is inevitable as long as the rule of law exists."

(Photo: Yonhap News)

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