SEOUL, The Supreme Court on Tuesday finalized a suspended prison sentence for former national police chief Kang Sin-myeong on charges of meddling in the 2016 parliamentary elections.
Kang, who served in the administration of ousted President Park Geun-hye, was charged with illegally gathering information and drawing an election strategy in favor of then lawmakers allied with Park ahead of the general election in April of 2016.
As part of the illegal activities, the intelligence unit of the National Police Agency mobilized intelligence police officers to gather election information, and several government officials critical of the then government were labeled “leftists” and illegally scrutinized.
A district court had initially sentenced Kang to a 14-month prison term, but an appellate court later revised the sentence to a 14-month jail term, suspended for two years, saying the crimes were not committed for personal interest.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday finalized the suspended prison term for Kang on elec
tion related charges, along with a separate sentence of a four-month prison term, suspended for two years.
The Public Official Election Act requires a court to issue a separate sentence for charges in violation of the law.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
