South Gyeongsang Gov. Hong Joon-pyo is well known for his self-righteousness and freewheeling style. He often draws public attention for his irreverent behavior and controversial remarks.

So it hardly comes as a surprise that he refuses to resign as governor despite a court ruling earlier this month that found him guilty of taking illegal political funds. To make matters worse, while handing out an 18-month prison term, the court did not take him into custody, citing his status as a serving governor.

It is rare for the court to allow defendants to file appeals out of jail after finding them guilty, and therefore, the court’s expedient decision itself should be questioned.

Judges may have thought that taking the governor into custody pending appeals at higher courts may impede operations of the provincial government. If so, they are mistaken. Democratic institutions — at both the central and local government levels — in this country are solid enough to withstand temporary vacancy in any elected office.

Moreover, what the court found — the governor received 100 million won ($89,000) in illegal political fund — is an offense serious enough to forfeit the public mandate to run the government of a province with a population of more than 3.3 million. 

Hong is one of eight political big shots named in a note left by Sung Woan-jong, who took his life amid a corruption investigation in April last year.

Sung, formerly the chairman of construction firm Keangnam Enterprises, wrote down figures beside some of the names, indicating he had given illicit funds to them.

In Hong’s case, Sung’s testimony — recorded during a telephone conversation with a journalist — that he gave money through a middleman convinced judges he was guilty.

Sung alleged he gave the money to Hong in 2011 when he was running for chairmanship of the ruling party of the time, which was the predecessor to the current Saenuri Party.

Hong’s morality was further put to question when he had his associates attempt to persuade the middleman — a former newspaper editor who was a senior executive at Sung’s firm — to discredit the tycoon’s testimony.

Upon the court’s ruling, Hong maintained his usual impudence, saying he felt he was “robbed in the street” and he would correct the erroneous verdict in a higher court.

He made it clear he would not step down, saying the trial is a “personal matter” and it would not affect his job as governor. Even barring those remarks, it is obvious Hong will not admit to his wrongdoings even when the Supreme Court hands down a guilty verdict and will not give up the governor’s seat voluntarily.

What’s fortunate is that we have legal, democratic institutions that can drive out such brazen-faced politicians. Opposition parties have already petitioned the court to take Hong into custody, and local civic groups are pushing for a public recall vote.

They have so far collected signatures of more than 357,000 people, far exceeding the minimum requirement for initiating a recall vote on the governor. We hope the local election commission, which will make its decision on whether to start the recall vote process on Sept. 30, will respect the opinion of conscientious voters in the province.  

The better option, of course, will be for Hong to resign voluntarily before he is forced to do so by the law. That would be the least he could do to honor the people who voted him as their chief public servant.