Lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison for Accepting 100 Million Won from Unification Church, Loses Parliamentary Seat

People Power Party lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong has been sentenced to two years in prison for accepting 100 million won in illegal political funds from the Unification Church.

The Supreme Court's Second Division (Justice Eom Sang-pil presiding) upheld the lower court's ruling today (July 16), sentencing Kweon to two years in prison and ordering the forfeiture of 100 million won.

Under the National Assembly Act and the Public Official Election Act, Kweon will lose his parliamentary seat.

Kweon was indicted by a special counsel team led by Min Joong-ki in October of last year on charges of receiving 100 million won from Yoon Young-ho, former secretary-general of the Unification Church, on January 5, 2022, ahead of the 20th presidential election, in exchange for requests such as government support for the religious group under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

The first and second trials found the charges guilty, sentencing Kweon to two years in prison and a forfeiture of 100 million won.

Although Kweon argued that he had met with Yoon for a meal but did not receive any money, the courts in the first and second trials determined that the charges were proven based on the evidence submitted by the special counsel team.

Kweon's claims that the case was not subject to investigation under the Kim Keon-hee special counsel law and that key evidence was illegally collected and used were also rejected.

The argument that Yoon had framed Kweon to evade his own embezzlement charges was also dismissed.

The Supreme Court also found no errors in these judgments today and dismissed the appeal.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.