Ex-DPK leader gets 2-year sentence for receiving illegal political funds

Song Young-gil, a former leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, attends a court hearing in Seoul, Dec. 18, 2023. Korea Times file photo by Kim Ye-won Song Young-gil, a former leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), was sentenced by a court Wednesday to serve two years in prison for receiving illegal political funds from businesspeople.

The Seoul Central District Court handed out the prison term to Song, who was indicted a year ago for taking 763 million won ($524,000) in illegal political funds from seven people under the pretext of donations for his support group, the Research Institute for Peace & Livelihood, from 2020 to 2021. Song was also indicted in January last year for his alleged involvement in his campaign's distribution of cash totaling 66 million won to 20 sitting DPK lawmakers and other party members in the run-up to the party's leadership election in May 2021, which he ultimately won. But the court acquitted Song of the charges related to the cash-for-votes scandal after refusing to recognize the evidential value of a former DPK official's cell phone recording files, which was the starting point of the prosecution's investigation into the case.



The court then ordered the immediate detention of Song, who was previously put under arrest in January last year but was released on bail four months later in May. Song is now serving as the leader of the Pine Tree Party, a minor political party. Prosecutors demanded imprisonment of nine years and a fine of 100 million won for Song in his previous hearing.

(Yonhap).