Supreme Court to Deliver Verdict Today in Appeal Trial on Evidence Concealment by Kim Kyung-rok, Asset Manager for Jeong Gyeong-sim PB

1st Trial: 8 Months Imprisonment with 2 Years Probation, 2nd Trial Appeal Dismissed

On December 23 last year, Jung Kyung-shim, wife of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, who was indicted on charges of admission fraud and private equity fund suspicions, is attending the first trial sentencing hearing at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] On the 8th, the Supreme Court will deliver its final ruling on Kim Kyung-rok (39), the asset manager of Professor Jeong Gyeong-sim of Dongyang University, who was indicted on charges of concealing evidence by hiding computer hard drives at Professor Jeong’s residence and Dongyang University research lab computers at her request, after the investigation into former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk’s family began in earnest in August 2019.

The Supreme Court’s First Division (Presiding Justice No Tae-ak) will hold the appellate trial sentencing hearing for Kim, who was indicted on charges of evidence concealment and sentenced to eight months in prison with a two-year probation in both the first and second trials, on the morning of the same day.

Kim is accused of hiding the hard drives of computers at Professor Jeong’s home and the main computer at Dongyang University’s research lab at her request.

Kim, who worked as a Private Banker (PB) at Korea Investment & Securities managing investment assets entrusted by clients, had been managing Professor Jeong’s assets since 2014 and was known to have maintained close relations with Professor Jeong, her husband, and their family.

After former Minister Cho Kuk was nominated as Minister of Justice on August 9, 2019, allegations of admission fraud involving their children, private equity fund investment fraud, and corruption related to Woongdong Academy surfaced. On August 27 of the same year, the prosecution conducted raids on related locations including Pusan National University, the office of Kolink Private Equity (Kolink PE), and Woongdong Academy.

According to the prosecution’s charges, on August 28, 2019, the day after the prosecution’s raid, Professor Jeong called Kim to her home and asked him to “prepare for the raid” and “replace the computer hard drives.”

Following this request, Kim purchased two hard drives at an electronics market near Nambu Bus Terminal using a credit card provided by Professor Jeong and replaced the hard drives of two computers in the study room of her residence.

Additionally, on August 31, Kim received a message from Professor Jeong saying, “Let’s go down to Dongyang University. Bring the hard drives to be replaced back home.” Kim went to Professor Jeong’s home, received one of the two hard drives he had removed and two hard drives installed in Professor Jeong’s son’s computer, totaling three hard drives, and hid them in a Cadillac sedan registered under his girlfriend’s name, which he had driven there.

On the same day, close to midnight, Kim and Professor Jeong went to her research lab at Dongyang University in Yeongju, Gyeongbuk Province. They attempted to replace the hard drive of the computer used by Professor Jeong, but as the building’s entrance was about to close, Professor Jeong instructed Kim to “take the entire computer to Yongsan and replace the hard drive there.” Kim then took the entire computer out.

Subsequently, before the prosecution’s investigation, Kim hid the three hard drives given by Professor Jeong in his personal locker at the gym he attended. On September 11, 2019, after the prosecution discovered photos of “PC disassembly” on his mobile phone and questioned him, Kim voluntarily submitted the hard drives. The main computer from the Dongyang University professor’s office, which he had kept in his car, was returned to Professor Jeong on September 3 of the same year.

In the first trial, Kim was sentenced to eight months in prison with a two-year probation.

The court at the time stated, “The crime of evidence concealment obstructs the proper exercise of the state’s judicial authority by hiding evidence, and thus has a high degree of social blameworthiness,” and pointed out, “The defendant, upon learning that the prosecution’s raid on Jeong Gyeong-sim was imminent, committed a bold act of hiding hard drives and even the computer main unit, thereby obstructing the proper exercise of the state’s penal authority.”

Furthermore, the court noted, “Considering that key evidence related to the criminal case against Jeong Gyeong-sim was found on the concealed computer main unit and hard drives, the defendant’s culpability is not light.”

However, the court took into account that Kim cooperated with the investigation by voluntarily submitting the hidden hard drives, did not delete data stored on the concealed hard drives or computer main unit, and had no prior record of similar crimes when determining the sentence.

The second trial, which proceeded with appeals from both Kim and the prosecution, upheld the first trial’s judgment.

The second trial court judged that Kim had a firm intent to conceal evidence, as he committed the crime fully aware that the prosecution’s investigation into Professor Jeong had begun and that the prosecution could soon raid her home or office, and that the computer used by Professor Jeong could be important evidence.

Moreover, the court pointed out that Kim’s act hindered the discovery of substantive truth and obstructed the proper exercise of the state’s criminal justice function, as the three hard drives and one computer main unit he concealed contained numerous important pieces of evidence, including internship certificates of Professor Jeong’s daughter and son, a certificate of the Dongyang University president awarded to her son, and KakaoTalk conversations related to Kolink PE exchanged between Professor Jeong and her younger brother.

However, considering that Kim was an asset manager responsible for Professor Jeong, a major client who invested a large sum in the investment company where Kim worked, and was socially and age-wise at a significant disadvantage, leading him to actively follow Professor Jeong’s instructions or requests, and that there was no evidence that the crime was meticulously planned in advance or that the method of the crime was particularly egregious, the court found it difficult to regard the first trial’s sentence as excessively light or heavy.

Meanwhile, in the first trial verdict delivered last December, Professor Jeong was found guilty of instructing evidence destruction related to private equity fund allegations but was acquitted of charges of instructing Kim to conceal evidence. The court reasoned that since Professor Jeong directly executed the crime herself, she could not be considered an instigator but should be regarded as a co-principal with Kim.

Under criminal law, the crimes of evidence destruction or concealment are established when evidence related to another person’s criminal or disciplinary case is destroyed or concealed. In other words, if a person directly destroys or conceals evidence related to their own crime, they cannot be punished for evidence destruction or concealment. However, if a person orders another to destroy or conceal evidence related to their own criminal case, they can be punished for instigating evidence destruction or concealment.

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