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| Rep. Yi Wan-young of the Liberty Korea Party leaves his office at the National Assembly, Thursday. / Yonhap |
By Lee Suh-yoon
The Supreme Court found opposition lawmaker Yi Wan-young guilty of accepting illegal election campaign funds and making a false accusation against a lender Thursday.
The ruling stripped him of his National Assembly seat.
Yi, a two-term lawmaker of the Liberty Korea Party (LKP), had been fined 5 million won ($4,200) for the Election Law violation and given a four-month prison term suspended for two years for the false accusation, which was upheld by a Daegu appeals court in February. The Supreme Court also upheld the lower court's decision, which said Yi illicitly received considerable financial gain by borrowing the money without interest.
"There is no fault in the lower court's interpretation of the relevant laws," the Supreme Court said.
The lawmaker representing several counties in North Gyeongsang Province was indicted in March 2017 for taking 248 million won in interest-free loans from Kim Myeong-suk, a local councilor in Seongju over whom he had the power to nominate for local elections, ahead of the 2012 general election.
When Yi failed to pay him back, Kim sued Yi on charges of fraud. Yi filed a countersuit against Kim for falsely accusing him. The courts found Yi, not Kim, guilty of making a false accusation.
A lawmaker fined 1 million won or given harsher sentence for violating the Election Law is automatically stripped of their National Assembly seat. Yi will also be unable to run for a public post for the next five years.
Yi's Assembly seat will remained unfilled until the general election, less than a year away.
With Thursday's ruling, the LKP is left with 112 out of 299 seats in the Assembly. Last December, the LKP similarly lost control of another seat when Rep. Lee Koon-hyon was given a suspended 18-month prison term for accepting illegal political funds.
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