Former NIS Comment Chief Yuseongok Sentenced to 1 Year and 6 Months in Prison

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Former National Intelligence Service (NIS) Psychological Operations Unit Chief Yoo Seong-ok, who was prosecuted for involvement in the NIS's comment manipulation during the Lee Myung-bak administration, has been sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison.

On the 12th, the Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Ahn Cheol-sang) upheld the original sentence of 1 year and 6 months imprisonment and 1 year and 6 months disqualification in the final appeal hearing of Yoo, who was charged with violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (loss of state funds) and other charges.

Yoo was indicted on charges of instructing Psychological Operations Unit staff to post comments online supporting the government and ruling party and defaming opposition politicians in collusion with former NIS Director Won Sei-hoon during former President Lee Myung-bak’s tenure, violating the NIS Act. He was also charged with disbursing approximately 1.15 billion won from the NIS budget under the pretext of activity expenses.

The first trial court sentenced him to 1 year and 6 months imprisonment and 1 year and 6 months disqualification, stating, "The NIS intervened in politics, fostering public opinion distortion and wasting large amounts of state funds on illegal activities." Yoo, who was out on bail during the trial, was detained in court following the prison sentence. The court viewed this as the foundation for widespread election interference after his retirement.

The second trial court had a different judgment. It did not consider Yoo a co-conspirator in the loss of state funds charge because former Director Won was not an accounting officer. However, it upheld the first trial’s sentence by finding Yoo guilty of embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.

In December last year, the Supreme Court accepted the prosecutor’s appeal that "the NIS Director qualifies as an accounting officer," overturned the previous ruling, and remanded the case. The retrial court then sentenced Yoo again to 1 year and 6 months imprisonment and 1 year and 6 months disqualification, stating that "the NIS Director effectively manages accounting-related duties by directing and supervising accounting staff."

On this day, the Supreme Court followed the second trial court’s judgment. It ruled, "The defendant’s appeal claiming legal errors regarding embezzlement acts, embezzled amounts, conspiracy, intent related to the violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, and infringement of defense rights due to rejection of the defendant’s witness requests after remand are dismissed."

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