Former Minister Park Sungjae Sentenced to 9 Years in Appeal on 'Insurrection Participation' Charge, Down from 25 Years in First Trial

Some key charges overturned, with Park acquitted on several counts

Park Sung-jae, a former justice minister who was indicted on charges of participating in an insurrection related to the Dec. 3 emergency martial law, was sentenced to nine years in prison in the second trial. He had been sentenced to 25 years in prison in the first trial, but his sentence was significantly reduced after the appeals court overturned some of the key charges and found him not guilty.

Yonhap News

The Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 1, presided over by Judge Yoon Seong-sik, sentenced Park to nine years in prison on Oct. 21 for performing a key role in an insurrection and abusing his authority to obstruct the exercise of rights.

As in the first trial, the appeals court found that Park knew the emergency martial law did not meet the substantive and procedural requirements, and that it had been declared to achieve unconstitutional and illegal objectives.

The court also found that Park performed a key role in the insurrection by ordering the head of the Ministry of Justice's Immigration and Foreign Policy Headquarters to have staff responsible for travel bans report to work, and ordering the head of the Corrections Bureau to check the capacity of correctional facilities in the Seoul metropolitan area after the declaration of emergency martial law.

However, the court found Park not guilty of the charge, which the first trial had found proven, that he ordered the head of the Corrections Bureau to review the “status of detention rooms” at Seoul Detention Center, saying the allegation was not proven. It also overturned the first trial's guilty verdict on the charge that he ordered the director of the Prosecution Division at the Ministry of Justice's Prosecution Bureau to cooperate with a request from the Martial Law Command's Joint Investigation Headquarters to dispatch personnel, finding him not guilty.

The court also found that the allegation that Park ordered then-Prosecutor General Sim Woo-jung to dispatch personnel, including forensic specialists from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Scientific Investigation Department, to the Joint Investigation Headquarters was not proven, contrary to the first trial's finding.

The court also found Park not guilty of abusing his authority to obstruct the exercise of rights by ordering checks of correctional facilities' capacity and requiring staff responsible for travel bans to report to work. The court said that the employees' reporting to work and remaining on standby did not constitute making them perform work they were not obligated to do. It reasoned that the circumstances at the time could be regarded as emergency duty under the National Public Officials Service Regulations.

The court also found that ordering a review of the capacity of correctional institutions in the Seoul metropolitan area did not amount to making subordinates perform work they were not obligated to do. The documents prepared by correctional officials in response to Park's order, it said, addressed only general matters concerning additional detention capacity.

The court also overturned the first trial's guilty verdict on the charge that Park abused his authority by ordering the Ministry of Justice's Inspection Division chief to draft an “abuse of authority document” containing arguments to justify martial law, immediately after martial law was lifted.

Meanwhile, in the case of former Minister of Government Legislation Lee Wan-gyu, who was indicted alongside Park on charges of violating the Act on Testimony and Appraisal before the National Assembly, the appeals court overturned the first trial's dismissal of the indictment and sent the case back to the Seoul Central District Court. Lee is accused of giving false testimony to the National Assembly, saying that no discussion of martial law took place during a “safe-house meeting” held immediately after martial law was lifted.

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