Former Head of Busan Office at National Human Rights Commission Sentenced to 3 Years and 6 Months in Prison

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Ju Cheol-in] Lee Mo (55), former head of the Busan office of the National Human Rights Commission, who was prosecuted on charges of receiving money in exchange for facilitating the imprisonment convenience and parole of the chairman of the Busan Port Labor Union, received a heavy sentence in the first trial.

According to the Busan District Court, Lee, who was indicted on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (bribery, mediation of bribery, embezzlement of bribery), was sentenced by the Criminal Division 5 of the Busan District Court (Chief Judge Kwon Ki-cheol) on the 11th to 3 years and 6 months in prison and a fine of 30 million won.

Additionally, 51 million won was confiscated, and he was acquitted on the embezzlement charge. The prosecution had requested a sentence of 6 years in prison, a fine of 60 million won, and confiscation of 66 million won at the sentencing hearing held in November last year.

Lee was prosecuted on charges of receiving 30 million won in exchange for facilitating parole and special visits for Lee Mo, former chairman of the Busan Port Labor Union, who was arrested for recruitment corruption while Lee was serving as the head of the Busan office of the National Human Rights Commission in 2012, and 20 million won in collusion with union executives as a bribe for promotion to union leader.

Lee was appointed as a level 4 secretary equivalent at the National Human Rights Commission in September 2005 and served as the head of the Busan office of the Human Rights Commission from around that time until January 2015. While serving as the head, he oversaw all tasks including visits to detention facilities such as local prisons, counseling, receiving complaints, investigating and remedying human rights violations in detention facilities.

During this time, it was revealed that he received 30 million won in cash contained in a shopping bag at a coffee shop in Dong-gu, Busan, in August 2012, after receiving repeated requests from executives of the Busan Port Labor Union for imprisonment convenience and parole of the former chairman Lee.

Afterward, he was dispatched for training at the Korea National Defense University and worked as an executive in the Human Rights Commission's Policy Education Bureau from January 2016, but was suspended from his position in May last year after this case surfaced.

The court stated the reason for the heavy sentence, saying, "The defendant was specially recruited as a secretary of the Human Rights Commission in recognition of his past human rights activism, but he abused his official authority for personal gain and received a large amount of bribes, thereby betraying even his integrity, and thus deserves a corresponding punishment."

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