Seoul (The Korea Herald/ANN) - The Supreme Court of Korea yesterday cleared Shin Hak-rim, former leader of the National Union of Media Workers, of embezzlement charges.
The nation¿s top court overturned an appellate court¿s ruling that Shin having received 12 million won (US$10,200) withdrawn from the union¿s bank account to make up for loss of income between 2003 and 2007 was illegal.
Justice Chon Soo-an said Shin suffered various disadvantages after being selected as the union leader and there had been internal agreement that Shin should be compensated.
¿It seems obvious that Shin wasn¿t aware of the withdrawal. Other leaders created the fund to support his living, which implies that Shin had no intention to reap the benefit from his position," she said.
However, the Justice found him guilty of giving 32 million won ($27,612) to the election campaign team of Kwon Young-ghil, who ran for the general election in 2004 for the Democratic Labour Party.
¿It is clear that the media union played a major role in raising and collecting the fund, which is a violation of the Political Fund Law," Jeon said.
Previous local and high courts also found Shin guilty of illegal political funding, slapping him with 5 million won ($4,314) and 6 million won ($5,177) fines.
