Court Acquits Former Intelligence Chief Mun Sangho of Military Secrets Leak in First Trial

Accused of Sharing Kim Yong-hyun's Report with No Sang-won
Court: "Difficult to See Specific Military Secrets Were Leaked"

Mun Sang-ho, former Commander of the Army Intelligence Command, who had been indicted on charges of leaking military secrets by informing former Commander No Sang-won of military matters previously reported to former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, was acquitted in the first trial.

On the 11th, the 26th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Hyun-kyung) delivered a not-guilty verdict for former Commander Mun, who had been prosecuted on charges of leaking military secrets. The court stated, "It is insufficient to conclude that Mun's statements stemmed from an intention to divulge military secrets beyond simply informing that the matter had been reported to former Minister Kim."

Moon Sangho, Former Commander of the Republic of Korea Army Intelligence Command (Major General, Army). Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Former Commander Mun was indicted on charges of stating during a phone call with former Commander No on December 2, 2024, that he had been instructed to prepare for a certain mission after reporting on the current status and tasks of the Intelligence Command to former Minister Kim earlier that morning. The prosecution viewed the details of the mission, as well as the matters reported to and instructed by the minister, as military secrets.

The court determined that merely based on Mun's statements, it is difficult to conclude that military secrets were leaked to an outside party. While Mun mentioned in the call terms such as "special forces, mission, equipment," "I was asked to report on our mission, so I reported accordingly," and "I was told to do some preparations regarding that," he did not provide any specific details.

The court further pointed out that the special forces and relevant equipment mentioned by Mun refer either to units and systems already publicly known as part of the Intelligence Command's organization or to equipment operated by other military units or civilian entities. The court stated, "It is difficult to see how the defendant's statements alone could realistically cause harm from a military standpoint."

The fact that former Commander No had previously served as commander and was partially aware of the mission did not constitute grounds for conviction. The court noted there was no indication that No had been involved in establishing the plan for the mission in question, nor was it plausible to view Mun's statements as having provided information beyond what No already knew.

The court also found there was no evidence of intent to leak military secrets. At the time, Mun's primary concern was to take the necessary steps to prepare the Intelligence Command's personnel for deployment, and after the remarks in question, the conversation continued on topics unrelated to updates for former Minister Kim.

However, the court determined there were no issues regarding the admissibility of evidence from the black box SD card and electronic data from No's vehicle, which had been obtained by investigative authorities. The court deemed the voluntary submission procedures were lawful and that No's participation rights during the seizure process were adequately protected.

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