"'Political Manipulation' Won Se-hoon Sentenced to 7 Years in Appeal Trial... 'Caused Numerous Harms'"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Jo] Former National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Won Se-hoon, who was prosecuted for various illegal surveillance activities and budget embezzlement during his tenure, was sentenced to seven years in prison again in the appellate court. On the 31st, the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 13 (Presiding Judge Gu Hoe-geun) sentenced former Director Won to five years of disqualification along with the prison term in the appeal trial on charges including aggravated breach of trust causing loss to the national treasury under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. The disqualification period was reduced by two years compared to the first trial sentence (seven years imprisonment and seven years disqualification). The court, as in the first trial, rejected the prosecution's claim for a fine of 19.8 billion won.

Former National Intelligence Service Director Won Se-hoon [Image source=Yonhap News]

Some Charges Reversed Between Guilty and Not Guilty... "Severe Punishment Inevitable"

The court mostly upheld the first trial's judgment on about 40 charges against former Director Won. However, it acquitted him of abuse of authority charges related to surveillance during former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon's trip to Japan and Kwon Yang-sook's trip to China, differing from the first trial. Conversely, it reversed some judgments by convicting him on charges such as loss to the national treasury involving 2.8 billion won in fictitious funds related to the Marriott Hotel lease deposit, which had been acquitted in the first trial.

Regarding sentencing, the court pointed out, "In our country's history, numerous damages have occurred due to political involvement by intelligence agencies, and considering the repeated changes in their names and scope of work, political involvement by the NIS in any form inevitably requires very severe punishment." It added, "The amount of loss to the national treasury is large, and the amount of bribery recognized as guilty is not insignificant. Many NIS employees, including deputy directors and bureau chiefs, who were devoted to national security, were unable to refuse illegal orders from former Director Won Se-hoon and became involved in various crimes, resulting in criminal punishment." The court also noted, "The defendant's four-year prison sentence confirmed in the comment manipulation case was considered as a sentencing factor."

Seoul Central District Court / Photo by Honam Moon munonam@

2 Years and 10 Months of Trial... If Confirmed, 7 More Years in Prison

Former Director Won was already prosecuted in 2013 for the NIS comment manipulation case and received a confirmed four-year prison sentence. The case sentenced on this day is separate from the comment manipulation case and emerged from investigations into NIS's deep-rooted corruption after the Moon Jae-in administration took office in 2017.

Starting with his indictment in December 2017 for operating a civilian comment squad and misusing NIS budget for purposes other than intended, former Director Won was indicted nine times over a year until December 2018 for using NIS budget to establish a pro-government labor union. The charges against him include ordering NIS employees to monitor the movements of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun's wife Kwon Yang-sook and actor Moon Sung-geun, delivering special activity funds of the NIS as bribes to former President Lee Myung-bak and former lawmaker Lee Sang-deuk, and preventing broadcaster Kim Mi-hwa, who was critical of the regime, from appearing on MBC broadcasts. The total number of charges against him reached about 40.

The court conducted hearings on these cases for over two years across four trial divisions in the first trial. In December last year, the cases were consolidated and sentenced together in February this year. The appellate court received the consolidated case in March and reached a final conclusion after about five months of hearings on this day. The total time from the first trial case filing to the appellate court sentence was a staggering two years and ten months. Former Director Won has been undergoing trial while serving the four-year prison sentence confirmed in the comment manipulation case. If this ruling is confirmed, he will have to serve an additional seven years in prison on top of the four years.

Min Byung-joo, former Psychological Warfare Unit Chief

Most Co-defendants Found Guilty... Possibility of Appeal

Former Director Won's co-defendants, former Ministers of Employment and Labor Lee Dong-geol and Lee Chae-pil, were each sentenced to one year in prison with two years of probation. Former MBC President Kim Jae-chul was sentenced to one year and six months in prison with three years of probation. Former Director of the Veterans Affairs Office Park Seung-chun received two years in prison with three years probation and two years disqualification, and former Psychological Warfare Unit Chief Min Byung-joo was sentenced to two years in prison.

After the sentencing, former Director Won's lawyer stated, "We will review the judgment and decide on whether to appeal after consulting with the defendant."

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