SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- A South Korean provincial governor was sentenced to two years in jail on Wednesday for his alleged involvement in online opinion rigging.
The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Kim Kyoung-soo, governor of South Gyeongsang province known to be close to President Moon Jae-in, to the two-year prison term.
A special counsel charged Kim with colluding with a power blogger to carry out a massive rigging of internet news comments in favor of then Democratic Party presidential candidate, Moon, beginning November 2016.
The court ruled that Kim recognized and approved the blogger's cyber operation using a computer program that artificially increase the number of likes on online comments in favor of the Democratic Party and Moon.
Moon took office in May 2017 after winning a snap presidential election, caused by the removal of the impeached President Park Geun-hye from office over corruptions.
The blogger was also condemned by the same bench to three and a half years in prison.
Kim was taken into custody right after the ruling. If convicted by the Supreme Court, he will forfeit his governorship.
After the ruling, the 51-year-old governor said through his lawyer that the court accepted all charges brought by the special counsel while disregarding the truth, noting that the sentencing can not be understandable as it was based on false testimony.
Denying all charges, Kim said what was worried about was realized.
