[이데일리 한광범 기자] The trial of former Prosecutor General Chae Dong-wook’s personal information leak case was completed eight years and three months after the incident occurred. While the systematic intervention of the National Intelligence Service, which was under investigation by the prosecution in relation to the comment operation at the time, was revealed, former head Nam Jae-joon avoided punishment because his involvement was not revealed.
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According to the legal community on the 16th, the second part of the Supreme Court (Chief Judge Jae-yeon Cho) confirmed the original trial that acquitted former Director Nam, who was handed over to trial for violating the Personal Information Protection Act. Seo Cheon-ho, the former second deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, who was also indicted, was sentenced to one year in prison and two years of probation. In the case of former National Interest Intelligence Agency Director Moon Jeong-wook, who was sentenced to 10 months in prison and two years of probation in the second trial, neither the prosecution nor the defendant appealed.
The controversy over former President Chae being out of wedlock broke out in September 2013. At that time, in the first year of the Park Geun-hye administration, the special investigation team of the prosecution was conducting an all-round investigation into the NIS election interference case. While protecting the investigative team from drafts, the former president took off his clothes as suspicions arose that he was an outlaw.
Prosecutors investigated the allegations of personal information leakage, and in May 2014, “The former director of Seocho-gu Office, Jo, had his subordinate, Kim, who was the head of the Family Relations Registration Team, inquire about military A’s personal information. I forwarded it to the administrator,” he concluded and prosecuted them.
檢 “NIS confirmed the intelligence three months before the media report”
Former Director Cho admitted that personal information was delivered to the Blue House by investigative agencies and courts, but strongly denied the allegation of passing on information to the National Intelligence Service. In the first trial, he was sentenced to eight months in prison and in court, but in the second trial, his claim was accepted and his sentence was commuted to a fine of 10 million won.
After the Moon Jae-in government was inaugurated, the prosecution re-investigated that the National Intelligence Service had systematically carried out operations related to the ex-president Chae out of wedlock to prevent the prosecution’s investigation into the comment operation. passed over
Prosecutors determined that the NIS obtained information on the personal information of former President Chae out of wedlock in June 2013 and confirmed the contents of the school life record and family relations register for group A with sequential instructions from the upper management.
In addition, it was confirmed that it was Mr. Im, who was the head of the welfare policy department, not the former director, Cho, who delivered the information to the National Intelligence Service from the Seocho-gu Office. In addition, Kim’s court testimony that “I only passed on information to former Director Cho” and Lim’s court testimony that “I never passed on information to the National Intelligence Service” confirmed that they had kissed the NIS and handed Lim and Kim to trial.
While acknowledging that it was an ‘organized crime at the level of the National Intelligence Service’, the court ruled that the culmination of this was the former deputy director, Seo, not the former director Nam. However, the prosecution did not accept the ‘purpose of obstructing the prosecution’s investigation’, saying, “I have doubts, but there is no evidence to prove this.”
Law does not admit purpose of obstructing investigation of ‘comment operation’
The background of the acquittal was that it was unclear whether ex-President Nam did not instruct Chae to verify information about ex-president Chae in advance and it was not clear whether he had implicitly approved the inspection order. In particular, the fact that he rebuked the former deputy chief Seo, who reported the results of the intelligence verification, saying that he “did a useless thing” also served as a basis for his innocence. During the trial, he said in court, “I also have a grandson. I don’t do that,” he protested.
Regarding the former deputy chief Seo and former director Moon, the court said, “The crime was committed by the NIS officers who could be the subject of the investigation, and the personal information of a child who was only an elementary school student was exposed, so that group A and his mother could infer considerable psychological damage. Despite the circumstances, the NIS position and authority were recklessly used to commit the crime.”
The second division of the Supreme Court (Chief Justice Min Yoo-suk) also confirmed that former Seocho-gu Office Director Cho, who had been imprisoned for perjury, was also guilty of transmitting personal information to the Blue House and was fined 10 million won.
Lim, who was the first to be handed over to trial through re-investigation, was convicted of perjury and violating the Personal Information Protection Act and Family Relations Registration Act in the first trial and was sentenced to one year in prison. The sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court in February 2019.
In addition, in the case of Seocho-gu office official Kim, who directly inquired about Group A’s personal information, reported it to the superior, and later gave perjury in court, he was sentenced to a fine of 1 million won in the first trial, but was found guilty of perjury in the second trial and the fine was raised to 7 million won. It was confirmed as it is.
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