[2020 National Audit] 'Jeokpae Cheongsan' Political Retaliation Trials Acquittal Rate Over 5 Times Higher Than General Cases

Yoon Han-hong, member of the Liberty Korea Party

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] The acquittal rate in political retaliation cases prosecuted after the Moon Jae-in administration was found to be five times higher than that of general criminal cases.

On the 7th, Yoon Han-hong, a member of the National Assembly's Judiciary Committee from the People Power Party, announced that after analyzing a total of 106 political retaliation cases submitted by the Supreme Court, the Kim Myung-soo judiciary issued first-instance rulings on 95 of these cases, with 15 cases resulting in acquittals at the first trial.

The acquittal rate was approximately 15.8%, which is more than five times the acquittal rate of general criminal cases at 3.14% (based on first-instance trials in 2019). Representative Yoon pointed out, "This suggests that the so-called 'eradication of deep-rooted evils' under the Moon Jae-in administration was an excessive political retaliation."

It was also common for appeals or higher court trials not to be held despite acquittals at the first trial. Out of the 15 cases acquitted at the first trial, 8 cases did not proceed to a second trial, and in 4 cases where the second trial also resulted in acquittal, the third trial was not held. Only 3 cases proceeded to the third trial.

The trial periods were also lengthy. The average trial period for the 95 cases with first-instance rulings was 265 days, which is more than 100 days longer than the average trial period of 156 days for first-instance criminal cases in 2020. The cases involving Kim Ki-chun and Yoon Jeon-chu took 503 days. The 75 second-instance rulings also took longer than the average trial period for general criminal cases, with the case of former National Intelligence Service Director Moon taking as long as 526 days. The third-instance trials were even more severe.

The average duration of the 60 third-instance trials heard by the Supreme Court was 323 days, which far exceeded the average trial period of 87 days for third-instance criminal cases in 2020 by more than three times. The Kim Ki-chun case took as long as 722 days. Representative Yoon said, "The Kim Myung-soo judiciary is afraid that the true nature of the Moon Jae-in administration's political retaliation cases will be revealed," adding, "We must minimize the suffering of the parties involved through swift trials and restore the independence of the judiciary, which has been undermined, through fair judgments."

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