Former Army Colonel Won Chung-yeon, accused of plotting to overthrow ex-President Park Chung-hee, sentenced to prison in retrial

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Former Army Colonel Won Chung-yeon, who was sentenced to death for plotting a coup during the presidency of former President Park Chung-hee, has had his sentence reduced to imprisonment in a retrial.

The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Noh Tae-ak) announced on the 30th that it upheld the lower court's ruling sentencing former Colonel Won to 15 years in prison in the retrial appeal filed by his son.

The court stated, "There is no error in the lower court's judgment that violates the principles of logic and experience, exceeds the limits of free evaluation of evidence, or misinterprets the legal principles related to the former National Security Law."

In February 1965, former Colonel Won conspired with other military officers to stage a coup, claiming that former President Park did not keep the 'May 16 Coup Pledge' to transfer power to civilians.

On May 16 of the same year, they planned to arrest the president, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Minister of National Defense, and others to establish a new government.

However, the coup plot was uncovered before it was carried out. Former Colonel Won was arrested by the military, sentenced to death by a military court, and imprisoned until he was released in 1981 by a presidential pardon.

The first trial in the retrial reduced his sentence from death to 17 years in prison.

The fact that the coup was only a plot and that former Colonel Won was tortured during the investigation were factors in the sentence reduction.

The second trial mostly upheld the first trial's judgment but found some errors in the application of the legal principles regarding the charges of conspiracy to rebel and forming an anti-state organization, reducing the sentence to 15 years in prison.

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