Appellate Court Upholds Guilty Verdict Over Yoon Suk Yeol's False Statements; 39.7 Billion Won Election Expenses Subject to Return If Confirmed

[Anchor]

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was indicted on charges of publicizing false information during his presidential campaign, has received an invalidation-level prison sentence in his second trial as well. If this ruling is finalized, the People Power Party will be required to return the 39.7 billion won it received as election expense reimbursements.

Reporter Kwon Min-kyu has the story.

[Reporter]

[Judge Baek Seung-yeop, Presiding Judge, Criminal Division 2-1, Seoul High Court: We deliver the verdict as follows. The defendant's appeal is dismissed.]

The Seoul High Court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was indicted on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act, to one year and six months in prison with a three-year probation, identical to the first trial.

The court found former President Yoon guilty on both charges of making false statements on two occasions during his time as the People Power Democratic Party (People Power Party) presidential candidate in the 20th presidential election.

The convictions cover his statement at a Kwanhun Club debate in December 2021 denying that he had introduced a lawyer to former Yongsan Tax Office Chief Yoon Woo-jin, and...

[Yoon Suk Yeol (December 2021, then-presidential candidate): (Former Chief Yoon Woo-jin's) younger brother is also a current prosecutor, and I wasn't in a position to introduce a lawyer.]

...his remarks during an interview at a Buddhist event a month later, where he claimed he was introduced to Jeon Seong-bae, known as Geomjinbeopsa, by a party official and denied ever meeting Jeon together with Kim Keon-hee. The court ruled that all of these constituted offenses.

Regarding the lawyer introduction, the court judged that former President Yoon's statement did not merely mean that "he did not arrange a legal representation contract," but rather that "he did not even engage in the act of connecting the two people," meaning it differed from the facts.

As for the statements regarding Jeon Seong-bae, the court stated, "It is recognized that former President Yoon first met Jeon through his spouse in 2013 and subsequently met him on multiple occasions together with his spouse," confirming them as false statements.

Former President Yoon's legal team expressed plans to appeal to the Supreme Court, claiming the ruling was predetermined, while the special counsel team stated that it was a verdict the public could understand and expressed gratitude to the court.

Following the first trial, the second trial also handed down a sentence equivalent to an election invalidation. Consequently, if the ruling is finalized in the future, the People Power Party must return the 39.7 billion won in election expenses reimbursed from the 20th presidential election.

(Camera: Yang Hyun-chul | Video Editing: Kim Jin-won | Design: Lee Jong-jung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.