Special Investigation Team and Kim Kyung-soo Submit Final Opinion... Will It Be a Last-Minute Factor in Determining Guilt or Innocence?

Containing Contrasting Views on Reverse Work
One Month Until Sentencing... Only the Court's Decision Remains

Governor Kim Kyung-soo of Gyeongnam Province. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The special prosecutor team led by Heo Ik-beom, investigating the presidential election opinion manipulation issue, and the side of Governor Kim Kyung-soo of Gyeongnam recently submitted their final briefs to the court. These briefs concern the counter-operation of comments and are expected to act as a last-minute variable in the court's judgment ahead of the appellate trial verdict.

According to the legal community on the 9th, Governor Kim's side submitted the brief related to the counter-operation to the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 2 (Chief Judge Ham Sang-hoon), which is handling this case, the day before. The special prosecutor had submitted a related brief on the 7th, a day earlier. It is known that both parties argued opposing views regarding the counter-operation in their briefs.

The counter-operation refers to cases where the comment automation program "King Crab," developed to create a favorable public opinion for then-opposition candidate Moon Jae-in during the last presidential election, instead formed a critical public opinion against President Moon. So far, Governor Kim's side has denied any collusion with 'Druking' Kim Dong-won based on this counter-operation, while the special prosecutor argued that the proportion of counter-operation comments among all comments was extremely minimal and that it was merely a simple mistake by Druking's group. Both the special prosecutor and Governor Kim's side reportedly included similar content in their briefs based on their respective full investigations.

The submission of briefs by both sides was in response to the court's request during the sentencing hearing last month. Although both sides continued to dispute the counter-operation on the day of the sentencing hearing, the court judged that since the appellate trial had already proceeded for 1 year and 7 months, further exhaustion of time was meaningless. The court stated, "We do not want to waste time on this issue," and requested, "Please submit briefs related to the counter-operation by early October, one month before the verdict."

Heo Ik-beom, Special Prosecutor / Photo by Jin-hyeong Kang aymsdream@

Looking at the appellate trial of Governor Kim, although new issues such as the chicken ribs receipt have emerged, the facts largely did not deviate from those addressed in the first trial. However, the court emphasized regarding the counter-operation, "We think it is very significant," and added, "If the Supreme Court does not review this part, we believe all our efforts will be in vain." This means the court regards the counter-operation as important evidence in determining guilt or innocence in this case.

Governor Kim's appellate trial verdict is scheduled for the 6th of next month. Governor Kim was indicted on charges of conspiring with Druking's group to conduct illegal opinion manipulation using the comment manipulation program King Crab from around November 2016 to support President Moon's election. After the 2017 presidential election, they allegedly agreed to continue comment manipulation until the local elections the following year, and at the end of that year, Governor Kim is also accused of proposing the Sendai Consul General position to Druking, who had requested the Osaka Consul General post. The first trial found Governor Kim guilty on all charges, sentencing him to two years in prison for comment manipulation and ordering his detention in court. For violating the Public Official Election Act, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison with a two-year probation.

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