'Political Manipulation' Won Se-hoon... Supreme Court Overturns and Remands for Abuse of Power Conviction

[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] The Supreme Court has ruled that the original trial, which acquitted former National Intelligence Service (NIS) chief Won Se-hoon of abuse of authority charges, must be retried. Former Director Won was indicted on charges of ordering various illegal political operations during the Lee Myung-bak administration.

On the 11th, the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Kim Seon-su) overturned part of the ruling, including the acquittal on abuse of authority charges, in the appeal trial of former Director Won, who was indicted for embezzlement of state funds and abuse of authority under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court.

Former Director Won was prosecuted for operating a covert operations team within the NIS to conduct illegal surveillance during the Lee Myung-bak administration and for conducting surveillance and political operations against influential opposition politicians and civilians. In particular, he is also accused of providing approximately 6.5 billion won of NIS budget to a civilian online comment group and delivering 200 million won in special activity funds and 100,000 US dollars in cash to former President Lee Myung-bak.

The first trial recognized guilt for the support of the NIS budget and perjury charges, as well as the charge of providing 100,000 US dollars to former President Lee, sentencing him to seven years in prison and seven years of disqualification. In the second trial, the judgment on some charges was changed, sentencing former Director Won to seven years in prison and five years of disqualification. He was also accused of using a total of 2.8 billion won of NIS special activity funds to rent a suite room at a famous domestic hotel for personal purposes.

On this day, the Supreme Court found problems with the original trial’s judgment that acquitted or dismissed charges related to violations of the National Intelligence Service Act due to abuse of authority against NIS employees by former Director Won. The original trial held that former Director Won only had NIS staff assist in factual acts supporting his official duties and thus did not constitute abuse of authority violating the National Intelligence Service Act, but the Supreme Court found this to be a legal error that affected the judgment and overturned part of the ruling.

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