All appeals are dismissed.

The grounds of appeal are examined.

1. Article 113(1) of the Public Official Election Act prohibits a person in the relevant constituency from making an act of donation to “a person who is outside the relevant constituency but has relations with the electorate.”

Here, “persons having relations with the electorates” refers to persons having relations with the electorates, regardless of the reasons for having relations with the electorates, who may directly or indirectly affect the decision-making of the electorates, as they have a certain blood or personal relationship, such as the family, relatives, friendly Gu, workplace, superior, native folks association, alumni association, relatives association, etc.

(see, e.g., Supreme Court Decision 2006Do7087, Dec. 21, 2006). In addition, the main text of Article 268(1) of the Public Official Election Act provides, “The statute of limitations for a crime under this Act shall expire after the lapse of six months after the relevant election day (in cases of a crime committed after the election day, six months after the relevant act was committed).”

The term "relevant election day" refers to the voting day of an election directly related to the relevant election crime. Thus, since the election crime is deemed to have been committed prior to the relevant election day, and whether the commencement date of the statute of limitations for the short term is the election day or whether the election crime was committed after the relevant election day, and whether the initial date of the statute of limitations for the short term is the date when the statute of limitations for the short term begins shall be determined depending on whether the election crime was committed in relation to any election before and after the crime (see, e.g., Supreme Court Decision 2006Do3026, Aug. 25, 2006).

Defendant

A’s act of providing a total of KRW 50 million to Defendant B is “an act of providing money to a person in the relevant constituency or a person having relations with the electorate even if outside the relevant constituency,” as provided in Article 112(1) of the Public Official Election Act.