Supreme Court's Final Verdict on 'Whitelist' Kim Ki-chun and 'Comment Manipulation' Druking Cases

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The Supreme Court will deliver its final rulings on major cases today.

First, the Supreme Court will announce the verdict in the appeal trial of former Blue House Chief of Staff Kim Ki-chun, who was indicted on allegations of illegally supporting certain conservative groups by pressuring the Federation of Korean Industries during the Park Geun-hye administration, in the so-called 'white list' scandal.

The Supreme Court's Third Division (Presiding Justice Min Yoo-sook) will deliver the verdict today in the appeal trial of former Chief Kim and former Blue House Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Cho Yoon-sun, who were indicted on charges including abuse of power and obstruction of the exercise of rights.

Former Chief Kim and others were prosecuted for pressuring the Federation of Korean Industries from 2014 to 2016 to provide 6.9 billion won in support to 33 pro-government conservative organizations. The first and second trials sentenced former Chief Kim to 1 year and 6 months in prison, and former Secretary Cho to 1 year in prison with a 2-year probation. However, the courts differed in their judgment on the abuse of power charge. The first trial acquitted them, but the second trial found them guilty.

Given the conflicting lower court rulings, attention is focused on the Supreme Court's final decision. The Supreme Court's full bench ruling on the 'cultural blacklist' case involving former Chief Kim and others on the 30th of last month is likely to have an impact. At that time, the court emphasized the need to further examine whether former Chief Kim and others compelled public institution employees to perform 'unnecessary tasks' and remanded the case to the second trial.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Supreme Court will also deliver the verdict in the appeal trial of 'Druking' Kim Dong-won, who was indicted on charges including manipulating the number of likes on portal site comments. Kim was prosecuted for using the macro program 'King Crab' from December 2016 to March 2018 to manipulate likes and dislikes on about 1.4 million comments on approximately 80,000 articles, with the aim of electing a specific candidate in the 19th presidential election. He also faces charges of violating the Political Funds Act for donating 50 million won to the late former lawmaker Roh Hoe-chan in March 2016 and giving 5 million won to Han, a former aide to Governor Kim, as a bribe for personnel favors.

The first trial sentenced Kim to 3 years and 6 months in prison for comment manipulation and 6 months in prison with 1 year probation for violating the Political Funds Act. The second trial sentenced him to 3 years in prison for comment manipulation and the same sentence for the Political Funds Act violation.

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