Trial of Ministry of Industry Official in 'Wolseong Nuclear Plant Data Deletion' Case Postponed to March

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The first trial of Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy officials indicted for deleting internal documents related to the Wolsong Unit 1 nuclear power plant or being involved in the matter has been postponed.

According to the legal community on the 15th, the Criminal Division 11 of Daejeon District Court (Chief Judge Kim Yongchan) will conduct the preparatory proceedings for the trial of three officials, including a director-level official A from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, on charges of damaging public electronic records, violating the Board of Audit and Inspection Act, and trespassing on March 9. The original date for the preparatory hearing was set for the 26th of this month. It is known that Lee Sanghyun, chief prosecutor of the Criminal Division 5 of Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, the investigation team for the case, submitted a request for a date change to the court on the 8th.

The background for the date change has not been confirmed, but some interpret it as the prosecution intending to investigate former Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Baek Woon-gyu and Korea Gas Corporation President Chae Hee-bong before the trial to maintain the prosecution.

Meanwhile, A and others are accused of ordering or tacitly allowing the deletion of documents related to Wolsong Unit 1 around November 2019, just before the Board of Audit and Inspection requested the submission of materials. B, a subordinate and another defendant, was indicted for entering the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy office at the Government Sejong Complex the night before a meeting with an auditor from the Board of Audit and Inspection and deleting 530 documents related to Wolsong Unit 1 over about two hours.

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