Ex-Ulsan mayor, opposition lawmaker given 3-yr terms for election meddling

▲ Former Ulsan Mayor Song Cheol-ho arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in this file photo taken Sept. 11, 2023, to attend a hearing on the 2018 Ulsan mayoral election scandal. (Yonhap)

former mayor-election meddling

Ex-Ulsan mayor, opposition lawmaker given 3-yr terms for election meddling

SEOUL, Nov. 29 (Yonhap) -- A former mayor of the southeastern city of Ulsan and an opposition lawmaker were both sentenced to a three-year prison term Wednesday on charges of meddling in the city's 2018 mayoral election.

Song Cheol-ho, a longtime friend of former President Moon Jae-in, was charged with conspiring with then Ulsan police chief Hwang Un-ha and other presidential aides to open an investigation into suspicions involving aides of then Ulsan Mayor Kim Gi-hyeon ahead of the 2018 mayoral election.

Song ultimately beat Kim, now the leader of the ruling People Power Party, in the election and served as Ulsan mayor from 2018-2022. Hwang later won a parliamentary seat in the 2020 general elections on the then ruling Democratic Party's ticket.

The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday held Song and Hwang guilty of conspiring to engineer the investigation against Kim.

"The act of election meddling, during which they privately utilized the public functions of the police and the presidential secretariat for their political interests and attempted to influence voting, is very grave in terms of criminal liability," the court said.

Song Byung-gi, who served as vice Ulsan mayor for economy under Song Cheol-ho, was also given a three-year term in connection with the election meddling along with two former presidential officials sentenced to imprisonment and suspended imprisonment, respectively.

Former Mayor Song, Hwang and the two former presidential officials "successively colluded and influenced the result of the election by having an investigation launched into those close to Kim running again for mayorship," the court concluded.

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