Grand National Party lawmaker Yoo Seong-kun lost his National Assembly seat, Friday, when the Supreme Court upheld his guilty conviction on violating the Election Law during the April 13, 2000 General Election. The court upheld the original sentence of a W2.5 million fine for Yoo publishing false material about his opponent.
Lawmakers lose their seat if they, or their family members and campaign managers are found guilty of violating the law and receive punishment of more than one year imprisonment or a W1 million fine. Yoo is the third assemblyman to lose his seat among the 16th General Election winners following Jang Seong-min of the Millennium Democratic Party and Kim Ho-il also of the GNP.
In the 2000 election, Yoo said at two joint speeches that his rival MDP candidate did not pay a penny of income tax, which was found out to be false leading to the indictment. As a result, the GNP has 132 seats in the National Assembly; the MDP, 115; United Liberal Democrats, 14; six are held by independents; and one by the Democratic People's Party.
(Ahn Seok-bae, sbahn@chosun.com)
