244 teachers, civil servants indicted over political donations

SEOUL, July 21 (Yonhap) -- A total of 244 civil servants, mostly teachers, were indicted Thursday on charges of making illegal donations as contributing members of a political party, prosecutors said Thursday. According to laws, public officials are banned from joining political parties and only official members can donate to their parties. The civil servants, including 210 teachers, regularly made contributions to the left-leaning opposition Democratic Labor Party (DLP) after becoming the party's sponsoring members, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said. Some 180 others were excluded from the indictment since they agreed to stop political activities while being under a criminal probe or resigned from their posts before or shortly after the probe, prosecutors said. Among those accused were four incumbent judicial officials and a school principal. A prosecutor quit his job after being caught donating to the DLP, the office said.