The first trial session began on Friday for South Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Kyoung-soo, who has been indicted on opinion rigging in collusion with an influential blogger known as "druking."

During the pretrial hearing at the Seoul Central District Court, Kim’s lawyers denied all charges against the governor who did not appear. 

The lawyers said Kim was not aware of the fact that the members of a blog that druking operated rigged opinions online using data manipulation software called King Crab. They also claimed that Kim did not give orders or collude with druking on such activity. 

Kim’s lawyers also denied the charge that Kim violated the Public Official Election Act by allegedly offering the post of consul general in Sendai, Japan, to an acquaintance of the blogger in exchange for assistance in the local elections.

A hearing for the influential blogger was also held on Friday. His legal counsel denied the allegation that the blogger delivered 50 million won worth of illegal political funds to late Justice Party lawmaker Roh Hoe-chan ahead of the 2016 general elections.