Court rejects bail request for Seoul education chief

SEOUL, Oct. 12 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul court on Wednesday denied bail for the city's education chief in custody for allegedly paying off a rival candidate, saying he may destroy evidence if released.
Kwak No-hyun, who was elected as superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education last year, was indicted and detained in early September on charges of bribing the rival candidate from the same liberal bloc to get him to drop out of the election.
Kwak filed for the bail request with the court on Sept. 30, saying he needed to undergo court proceedings without physical detention.
But the Seoul Central District Court upheld the prosecution's opinion that Kwak may destroy evidence if released, rejecting the request.
The superintendent is accused of giving 200 million won (US$171,232) to Park Myoung-gee, the rival candidate, and appointing him as a advisor to the city's education development council as a reward for the withdrawal, charges Kwak denies.
Permission for bail, if granted, could have allowed Kwak to resume his duties as the Seoul education superintendent, now being carried out by vice superintendent Im Seung-bin.
Kwak has strongly refuted the charges raised against him, explaining that the money was given only as a gesture of goodwill to help Park with heavy debts from his election campaign, not as a reward for the professor's withdrawal.
If the education chief is convicted of the charges, he will be stripped of his post and punished with imprisonment of less than seven years or a fine of at least 5 million won.