An appeals court on Wednesday upheld a penalty against an opposition lawmaker for illegal electioneering, which is heavy enough to cost him his National Assembly seat.
The Seoul High Court confirmed a lower court's conviction of Rep. Choi Myung-gil of the minor opposition People's Party for hiring an unregistered election campaigner ahead of last year's parliamentary elections.
(Yonhap)
It maintained the sentence of 2 million won ($1,766) in fines.
By law, lawmakers lose their parliamentary seats if they are convicted of election law or political fund law violations and sentenced to a fine of 1 million won or more. Choi will lose his seat if the sentence is finalized by the Supreme Court.
Choi, a TV anchor-turned politician, claimed during the trial that the person accused of working as his campaigner was not hired for campaign purposes, but as an organizer for a "book concert"
event to promote his book, but the court did not accept the argument.