The Supreme Court Civil Division 3 (Presiding Judge Lee Suk-yeon) recently confirmed a ruling of 'invalid election' regarding A, who was elected as the president of the Korea Blind Association in 2018, as reported on the 11th. Both the first and second trials had previously ruled A's election invalid.
According to the ruling, A did not submit records related to criminal history when running in the March 2018 election for president of the Blind Association. Instead, A only submitted a statement claiming, "There are no facts that I have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment or higher by the court that have been finalized." However, in reality, A had received two suspended sentences for charges of facilitating prostitution.
After A was elected president, some members filed a lawsuit to invalidate the election. The old Social Welfare Act and the regulations of the Blind Association stipulate that "a person who has a finalized sentence for a crime, including facilitating prostitution, cannot become president if it has not been 10 years since the end of the sentence or since the sentence was suspended or waived." The members who filed the lawsuit argued, "A is ineligible to be president because the suspended sentence was finalized in 2010 and therefore not 10 years have passed since then."
In response, A countered, "The sentence was received unavoidably due to business operations in the massage industry, so it does not constitute grounds for disqualification from the presidency." The election management regulations state that "a sentence received unavoidably in business operations of the massage industry or in the performance of duties for the public interest of the association is exempted from disqualification of officers."
Both the first and second trials ruled, "A's election is invalid." The court stated, "It cannot be said that the massage business necessarily refers to operations related to facilitating prostitution," adding, "There is also no evidence to conclude that A was criminally punished unavoidably due to business operations."
The Supreme Court also said on the 15th of last month, "There is no error that influenced the ruling regarding the interpretation criteria and effectiveness of the disqualification provisions of this case, as determined by the lower court," and noted, "All appeals by A are dismissed."
A received a provisional decision to suspend the execution of duties from the court in 2020 while the election invalidation lawsuit was ongoing. Afterward, the Korea Blind Association had the former president act in the role until a new president was elected in 2023.