Supreme Court Again Denies Prosecutors’ Future Committee Task Force Request to Access Kim Yong Trial Records

Task Force Expected to Continue Investigation Using Copies Held by Prosecution Without Reapplying

The Truth Investigation Task Force of the Prosecutors’ Committee for the Respect of Human Rights and the Future, which is investigating allegations of abuse of prosecutorial investigative powers, once again requested access and copies of the trial records for the case involving former Deputy Director of the Democratic Research Institute Kim Yong, but the Supreme Court has denied the request for a second time.

Yonhap News

According to judicial sources on July 27, the task force received official correspondence from the Supreme Court on this day stating that it would not accommodate their request to access and copy the records for the former Deputy Director Kim’s case. This follows the initial denial of the same request on July 2. The specific reason for the Supreme Court’s refusal has not been disclosed.

The task force maintains that, based on internal operation guidelines of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, it is entitled to hear statements from those involved in cases, receive written statements and situational reports, collect investigation and trial records, and secure evidence materials.

Following the first denial, the task force reapplied for access and copying of the records. On July 23, it reportedly submitted an opinion to the court requesting that, at a minimum, the records held by the prosecution that were submitted to the court be promptly made available for access and copying.

According to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s internal guidelines related to the operation of the task force, the task force has the authority to collect and secure investigation and trial records and related documents whenever necessary.

However, with the Supreme Court’s repeated refusal, it is reported that the task force will proceed with its investigation using the copy records and other documents in the prosecution’s possession. It is understood that they have also been unable to obtain the trial records for the Daejang-dong case, which is currently in the appellate proceedings at the Seoul High Court.

On July 10, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, in response to the task force’s request for records, stated that "there is no reason to handle this differently from any other investigations," and indicated that it would provide the materials according to guidelines set by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. It is reported that the task force subsequently obtained the relevant materials from the district prosecutors' office.

However, there is criticism within legal circles that there is a lack of legal grounds for providing trial records to third parties who are not the defendant or their counsel. Former Chief Prosecutors Hong Seung-wook, Shin Bong-soo, Kim Yoo-chul, and Song Kyung-ho also recently issued a statement insisting that "all attempts to obtain trial records without legal grounds must be stopped immediately."

The Prosecutors’ Committee for the Future was launched on June 10 to investigate allegations of prosecutorial human rights violations and abuse of prosecutorial powers. The first round of investigations covers seven cases: the Ssangbangwool remittance to North Korea case, the Daejang-dong case, the case involving the former deputy director Kim, the Wirye New Town case, the West Sea civil servant shooting case, the statistics manipulation case, and the alleged fake news defamation of President Yoon Suk Yeol.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.