A South Korean court on Thursday handed down a suspended prison sentence to lawyer Kang Yong-seok for providing money to companies in return for helping with his election campaign last year.

Kang was indicted for paying an unspecified amount of money to a company owned by his brother-in-law from the 660 million won (US$492,673) worth of transfers he made, as part of payments connected to his unsuccessful bid in the gubernatorial election in Gyeonggi Province in June 2022.

He was also accused of providing unlawful money as service fees to another company that helped his campaign.

The Suwon District Court sentenced Kang to 18 months in prison for violating the Public Official Election Act. Still, the court suspended the sentence for three years, meaning that he will not have to serve prison time if he stays out of trouble during that period.

The court found Kang guilty of paying 3 million won to employees of a YouTube channel for covering tasks related to his campaign. It also said Kang refused to cooperate with an inspection by the National Election Commission, and denied allegations against him despite clear evidence of his wrongdoing.

Source: Yonhap News Agency