Independent lawmaker Kang Sun-woo, a former member of the Democratic Party of Korea, was sentenced to prison Wednesday in a first-instance ruling over charges that he accepted 100 million won ($74,600) as a "nomination bribe" in exchange for endorsing a city council candidate.
Judge Lee Chun-geun of Seoul Central District Court sentenced Kang to two and a half years in prison at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday on charges of violating the Political Funds Act and ordered him taken into custody in the courtroom.
Kim Kyung, a former Seoul city council member indicted alongside Kang on charges of paying the 100 million won in exchange for the nomination, received a one-year sentence.
Kang and Kim were each indicted in March after allegedly meeting at a hotel in Yongsan, Seoul, in January 2022 and exchanging a shopping bag containing 100 million won in connection with the nomination of a Seoul City Council candidate in that year's local elections.
Both had been released on bail last month after their detention periods expired during the first-instance trial.
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