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| Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, answers reporters' questions in front of the Seoul High Court, Friday, after the court suspended his sentence. / Yonhap |
By Kim Se-jeong
An appellate court has suspended handing down a sentence to Seoul's top educator, although it acknowledged his being charged with the Election Law violation.
The Seoul High Court made the decision on Friday for Cho Hee-yeon, the superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE), who was charged with spreading false rumors about his rival Koh Seung-duk during the election campaign last year.
Such a suspension of sentence is a kind of "mercy" given when the crime is not grave. After two years, the person avoids punishment for the charge.
The court overturned a lower court decision which sentenced Cho to 5 million won in fines, which would deprive him of the post according to the law. The prosecution said it would appeal. If the Supreme Court upholds the high court ruling, Cho will keep his post.
During the election campaign, Cho raised suspicions that Koh held a U.S. green card and thus was unqualified for the top educator post.
"We recognize that he announced the false fact about his rival," the court said. "But it was an attempt to verify Koh's qualifications, and was not malicious enough to be punished."
It said that the controversy over Koh's green card was over a couple of days after Cho's announcement. "It doesn't seem that the announcement had a direct influence on the election."
After the ruling, Cho offered an apology to Koh.
"I apologize to Koh for my speech," he said. "I should have been more careful during the campaign. I'll reflect on myself and try to be more careful in carrying out my job as a superintendent."
Friday's ruling came four months after the lower court ruling. In the jury trial, all seven jurors concluded the liberal chief educator was guilty.
He appealed and requested a suspended sentence. He said that his announcement was not critical to the result of the election, and claimed that if he was removed from the post, taxpayer money would be wasted holding a by-election for the post.
He is the third chief of the SMOE to be tried for violating the Election Law since 2008. Two former chiefs -- Gong Jeong-taek and Kwak No-hyun -- were stripped of their positions after convictions.
During the election campaign last year, Cho accused his rival Koh of holding a U.S. residential card and having his children educated there. Calling Koh a hypocrite, Cho heralded that he was less than qualified for the post.
Koh argued his children are educated in the U.S. because they were born there, not because their father had a green card. In November, a conservative civic group filed a complaint against Cho.
