Three opposition lawmakers lose seats for election law violation

SEOUL, May 14 (Yonhap) -- Three opposition party lawmakers lost their seats in the National Assembly on Thursday after the Supreme Court convicted them of violating election laws in the run up to last year's general election.

The highest court found Rep. Suh Chung-won, co-chairman of the "Pro-Park Geun-hye
Alliance," guilty of receiving 3.2 billion won (US$2.5 million) from two aspiring
lawmakers in return for nominating them as the party's candidates in the general
election held in April last year. He was given an 18-month jail term.
The party was formed by loyalists to Park Geun-hye, a one-time presidential
candidate and former chairperson of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP). Park
is not officially affiliated with the Pro-Park party.
Rep. Yang Jeong-lyea and Rep. Kim Noh-sik, the two candidates, were elected to
the parliament in the general elections. Both, however, were stripped of their
party's proportional representative seats after the Supreme Court convicted them
of offering bribes to Suh. Kim was given a one-year jail term, while Yang
received a 10-month prison sentence suspended for two years.
Under current election law, a jail term or a fine of over 1 million won, if
confirmed by the Supreme Court, results in the nullification of parliamentary
seats.
The latest ruling reduced the minority opposition party's seats in the 299-seat
assembly from eight to five.
With the disqualification of the three, a total of nine legislators have lost
their seats since last year's general elections.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court dismissed a lower court's ruling that handed down a
1.5 million won fine to Rep. Ahn Hyoung-hwan, a member of the GNP, on suspicion
of forging his educational background during the general election. Ahn is
expected to retain his parliamentary seat.