Saenuri lawmaker loses seat for buying nomination

The ruling Saenuri Party’s Rep. Kim Young-joo lost his parliamentary seat after the Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a 10-month prison term for violating the Public Official Election Act.

Under related regulations, receiving prison terms or being fined more than 1 million won ($950) for violating the Public Official Election Act or the Political Fund Act results in an automatic annulment of election results.

Kim, a first term proportional representative, was indicted in September for allegedly promising to lend 5 billion won to the Advancement and Unification Party in return for a being nominated as a proportional representative in last year’s general elections. The Advancement and Unification Party was absorbed by the ruling party ahead of last year’s presidential election.

Along with Kim’s sentence, the court also upheld the one-year prison term given to Shim Sang-uck, who had headed the Advancement and Unification Party’s research organ, for making the deal with Kim.

By Choi He-suk
(cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)