Prosecutors Demand 11-Year Prison Sentence for Yang Jin-ho, Chairman of Korea Future Technology, Over 'Gapjil' Assault Case

Yang Jin-ho, Chairman of Korea Future Technology, leaving the first trial held on the morning of January 24 last year at the Suwon District Court Seongnam Branch in Sujeong-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The prosecution has requested a heavy sentence of 11 years in prison for Yang Jin-ho, chairman of Korea Future Technology, who is on trial for charges including ‘gapjil assault’.

According to the court on the 8th, at the sentencing hearing held the previous day at the Suwon District Court Seongnam Branch, 1st Criminal Division (Chief Judge Lee Soo-yeol), the prosecution requested 5 years in prison for charges committed before the final judgment in December 2013, and 6 years in prison along with a fine of 19.5 million won for charges committed thereafter.

Yang was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 3-year probation for aiding copyright law violations, and this sentence was finalized in December 2013.

Article 37 of the Criminal Act (Concurrent Crimes) states, “Multiple crimes for which judgments have not been finalized or crimes for which judgments imposing imprisonment or heavier penalties have been finalized, and crimes committed before the finalization of those judgments shall be treated as concurrent crimes.” Articles 38 and 39 further regulate the punishment of concurrent crimes.

In particular, Article 39 of the Criminal Act states, “When there are crimes for which judgments have not been received among concurrent crimes, the sentence shall be imposed considering fairness when simultaneously judging those crimes and the crimes with finalized judgments.” This is a measure to ensure that defendants are not disadvantaged compared to being punished all at once when tried separately for multiple crimes.

Regarding the reason for the sentence request, the prosecution pointed out, “The defendant ruled over employees as an absolute and unchallengeable figure, operated the company coercively, issued abusive language and coercive orders that are generally difficult to understand, and committed typical power-type crimes.”

They added, “He is insensitive to others’ suffering but sensitive to his own pain, claims that he was betrayed by employees, and has not shown sincere remorse, thus a heavy sentence is necessary.”

In his final statement, Chairman Yang said, “I sincerely apologize to those who were hurt or suffered damage,” but also clearly stated, “However, the part about employee surveillance was distorted and is not true.”

Yang added, “All employees involved in the crimes and those indicted are my fault, so I ask for leniency,” and “I am very ashamed of who I am now.”

Yang was arrested and indicted on December 5, 2018, on charges including special rape, habitual assault, violation of the Narcotics Control Act (marijuana), violation of the Animal Protection Act, and violation of the Firearms and Ammunition Act.

He is accused of animal cruelty under the Animal Protection Act by cruelly striking live chickens with a Japanese sword and shooting chickens with arrows, and of leading illegal distribution of obscene materials through the ‘webhard cartel.’

He is also charged with embezzling about 16.7 billion won of company funds including proceeds from the sale of subsidiaries, and with detaining and assaulting a university professor whom he suspected of having an affair with his wife.

In addition, he was indicted for surveilling employees through a program that secretly reads text messages on mobile phones.

The sentencing hearing for Chairman Yang is scheduled to be held at 10 a.m. on the 28th.

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