Supreme Court Acquits National Intelligence Service Employee in 'Officetel Comment Manipulation' Case

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The National Intelligence Service (NIS) employee who was prosecuted for giving false testimony as a witness during the NIS's interference in the presidential election case has been acquitted.

On the 29th, the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Kim Seonsu) confirmed the lower court's verdict of not guilty in the appeal trial of Kim, who was indicted for perjury. Kim was involved in the 'detention controversy' when members of the Democratic United Party gathered in front of the officetel where he was working on comment manipulation just before the 18th presidential election in December 2012.

Kim, an NIS employee at the time, was on trial for perjury for testifying during the trial of former NIS Director Won Se-hoon in 2013 that he did not know how the instructions for comment manipulation activities were given. The prosecution judged that Kim falsely testified that he followed orders issued through documents but individually posted comments according to unrelated superior instructions.

However, the court did not recognize Kim's perjury charges. The first trial court ruled that since Kim was not well aware of the documents, it could not be considered false testimony that he did not distinguish between instructions based on the documents and those from his superiors. The prosecution appealed, but the second trial court dismissed it. The Supreme Court also rejected the prosecution's appeal.

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