Will the 2nd Trial Uphold the 'Not Guilty' Verdict for Former Chairman Lee Sang-hoon Accused of Samsung Union Dissolution?

[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] The Supreme Court is set to deliver a ruling on Lee Sang-hoon, former chairman of Samsung Electronics' board of directors, and others who were prosecuted for involvement in union-busting activities at a subsidiary. Lee was sentenced to prison and detained in the first trial but was acquitted in the appellate court.

According to the legal community on the 4th, the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Park Jeong-hwa) will hold a verdict session at 10:10 a.m. regarding the appeal trial of Lee and others charged with violating the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act.

Lee and others were indicted for orchestrating the so-called 'Greenification' strategy led by Samsung Group's Future Strategy Office's HR support team in 2013 to disrupt the establishment of a union at Samsung Electronics Service. They set up a comprehensive control room and carried out oppressive acts such as wage cuts, discriminatory treatment, and targeted audits.

In particular, the prosecution found that they shut down subcontractors with strong unions, causing economic hardship for union members, and leaked sensitive information about union members. Additionally, they are accused of embezzling company funds to provide hush money to the bereaved families of deceased union members and deliberately delaying labor-management negotiations. It was also revealed that executives of the Korea Employers Federation and intelligence police were involved in this process.

The first trial sentenced Lee and Samsung Electronics Vice President Kang Kyung-hoon to 1 year and 6 months in prison each and detained them in court. At that time, former executives such as Choi Pyeong-seok, former executive director of Samsung Electronics Service (1 year and 2 months), Mok Jang-gyun, former executive director of Samsung Electronics (1 year), and Park Sang-beom, former CEO of Samsung Electronics Service (1 year and 6 months) were also sentenced to prison terms.

In the second trial, only the judgment against Lee was overturned to acquittal. While illegal acts to dismantle the union were acknowledged, the court ruled that evidence proving Lee's charges was illegally obtained. The investigation into Lee and others began after Samsung tried to hide hard disks from their office during the investigation of former President Lee Myung-bak's bribery charges, which was exposed. The first trial accepted this evidence, but the appellate court deemed it illegal.

The key issue in the Supreme Court ruling scheduled for this day is the extent to which the search warrant's scope will be recognized. This includes whether the vehicle where the documents were found, whether HR staff were aware of the search warrant's contents, and whether there were circumstances justifying the seizure of the original USB.

This issue also partially applies to other defendants. Although they did not completely escape all charges like Lee, some charges such as targeted audit suspicions were acquitted due to insufficient evidence, resulting in reduced sentences. In particular, Lee faces the possibility of being sentenced to prison again depending on the Supreme Court's ruling on this day.

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