A South Korean appeals court sentenced South Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Kyoung-soo to two years in jail for conspiring to manipulate online comments in favor of President Moon Jae-in, the media reported
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th November, 2020) A South Korean appeals court sentenced South Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Kyoung-soo to two years in jail for conspiring to manipulate online comments in favor of President Moon Jae-in, the media reported.
The Seoul High Court found the governor, a close confidant of the president, guilty, and thus affirmed the January 2019 verdict of a district court.
At the same time, Kim was acquitted on a separate charge that he secretly made an offer of a consul general job in the Japanese city of Sendai to an associate of a blogger known as Druking, the main suspect in the online opinion rigging case.
Kim has been out on bail since April 2019 and avoided imprisonment on Friday as his bail was not revoked due to his acquittal. After the ruling, the governor said that he would take the case to South Korea's Supreme Court. Kim will keep his gubernatorial position until the high court rules on the matter.
Kim was initially indicted in the summer of 2018 for conspiring with Druking, whose real name is Kim Dong-won, to artificially boost the number of "likes" on online comments in favor of Moon ahead of the 2017 presidential election.
