The Supreme Court has upheld former Democratic Party lawmaker Youn Kwan-suk’s two-year prison sentence under the Political Parties Act in connection with a vote-buying scandal.

On Thursday the Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling, which resulted in two years’ imprisonment for Youn for distributing cash envelopes to fellow lawmakers during a party leadership election.

This is the first guilty verdict to be upheld in connection with the cash-for-vote scandal, which also implicated former party leader Song Young-gil and other Democratic Party lawmakers.

Youn was found guilty of organizing meetings with fellow lawmakers to help Song secure the party leadership during a convention in May 2021.

He distributed envelopes to colleagues containing a total of 60 million won, or over 43 thousand U.S. dollars.