Supreme Court Overturns and Remands, Upholding Guilt of Baek Jongcheon and Cho Myunggyun in 'Summit Meeting Minutes Destruction' Case

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The Supreme Court has delivered a guilty verdict for former Blue House National Security Office Chief Baek Jong-cheon and former Blue House Security Policy Secretary Cho Myung-gyun, who were indicted on charges of conspiring to destroy the minutes of the 2007 inter-Korean summit.

The Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Park Sang-ok) announced on the 10th that it overturned the lower court's acquittal in the appeal trial of Baek and others, who were charged with violating the Presidential Records Management Act and damaging official electronic records, and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court.

Contrary to the lower court's ruling, the Supreme Court determined that the draft minutes should be regarded as presidential records. The court stated, "Whether the approver's approval was given should be comprehensively considered not only by the signature but also by instructions on the document, relevant legal provisions, and work procedures," adding, "Former President Roh Moo-hyun reviewed the contents of the minutes and confirmed them, issuing 'document processing' and 'review' orders so that electronic signatures and processing logs were generated."

The basis for this judgment is the former Office Management Regulations. Article 6-3, Paragraph 4 of the regulation stipulates that "A document management card is established as an official document by the approver's electronic signature and the indication of the processing date on the document management card."

The Supreme Court further explained, "The fact that former President Roh instructed to 'accurately verify each character of the conversation, add footnotes, organize it into a highly accurate and complete transcript, and register it in the e-support system to share it with responsible persons in the relevant fields' does not negate the intention to approve."

The Supreme Court also ruled on the charge of damaging official electronic records, stating, "The document management card with the attached minutes was produced as a presidential record by former President Roh's creation of the signature as an intention to approve, and since follow-up actions according to the attached 'instructions' were scheduled, it qualifies as 'electronic records used in public offices,'" thus judging it guilty.

This case was triggered by controversy over whether former President Roh made statements renouncing the Northern Limit Line (NLL) during the 2007 summit. The prosecution indicted Baek and others without detention, alleging that former President Roh instructed them not to transfer the minutes to conceal his remarks that could be interpreted as renouncing the NLL, and that they deleted the draft minutes and failed to transfer them to the Presidential Archives accordingly.

The first trial court, in February 2015, presented the establishment criteria for presidential records for the first time and acquitted them. The appellate court also ruled in November of the same year, like the first trial, that the draft minutes deleted by them could not be considered presidential records before presidential approval was given.

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