Court Assigns Case of Lee Kwang-cheol, Blue House Civil Affairs Secretary, to Collegiate Panel

Former Blue House Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Kwang-chul Lee. [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The trial of Lee Kwang-chul, the Blue House Civil Affairs Secretary accused of leading the illegal travel ban process against former Vice Minister of Justice Kim Hak-ui, will be handled by a panel of three judges.

According to the legal community on the 2nd, the Seoul Central District Court made a decision to assign the case of Secretary Lee, who was indicted without detention the previous day on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights.

The assignment to a panel trial is a procedure where, considering the importance of the case, it is assigned to a collegiate bench of three judges rather than a single judge trial.

The charge of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights applied to Secretary Lee carries a statutory minimum sentence of one year or less in prison, so it is originally classified as a case to be heard by a single judge. However, the Seoul Central District Court appears to have made this decision considering the gravity of the matter.

The trial panel to handle Secretary Lee’s case has not yet been decided, but it is highly likely to be assigned to the Criminal Division 27 (Presiding Judge Kim Seon-il), which is currently hearing the cases of former Director Cha Gyu-geun of the Immigration and Foreign Policy Headquarters of the Ministry of Justice and Prosecutor Lee Gyu-won, who were previously indicted on the same charges.

Secretary Lee is accused of leading the illegal travel ban measures by coordinating between former Director Cha and Prosecutor Lee after learning of former Vice Minister Kim’s attempt to leave the country on March 22, 2019, while serving as a senior administrative officer in the Blue House Civil Affairs Office.

Additionally, Secretary Lee is accused of exerting pressure on the investigation when the Anyang branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office began investigating Prosecutor Lee’s illegal travel ban charges in June 2019. He reportedly contacted Cho Kuk, then Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House, relaying a request from Prosecutor Lee, who was a judicial training institute classmate and colleague at the same law firm, asking the prosecution to allow Prosecutor Lee to leave the country without investigation as he was planning to study abroad soon.

These facts were revealed earlier through the indictment of Seoul High Prosecutor General Lee Seong-yoon, who was charged with investigation interference.

While the prosecution did not include the investigation interference charges when indicting Secretary Lee the previous day, there remains a possibility of additional indictment.

Meanwhile, on the same day, President Moon Jae-in conditionally accepted Secretary Lee’s resignation. The resignation was accepted on the condition that the successor to the Civil Affairs Secretary is appointed and the handover is completed to prevent any work gaps in the Civil Affairs Office, thus postponing the retirement date.

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