'Gumi Exchange Student Spy Ring' Wrongfully Accused Victims Win State Compensation Lawsuit

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] Hwang Dae-kwon, the author of "Letters from Wild Grass," written based on his prison experience, and others won partial victory in the first trial of a lawsuit against the state seeking compensation for damages related to the "Gumi International Student Spy Group Fabrication Case."

According to the legal community on the 4th, the Civil Division 37 of the Seoul Central District Court (Chief Judge Park Seok-geun) ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, Hwang Dae-kwon, Lee Won-jung, and their families, in a damages lawsuit filed against the government.

The Gumi International Student Spy Group case involved the National Security Planning Agency (NSPA) in 1985 accusing Hwang, Lee, and others of being recruited by North Korea while studying in the United States and Europe and conducting espionage activities domestically, leading to their prosecution.

At that time, Hwang was sentenced to life imprisonment and was incarcerated for about 13 years before being released on parole in 1998, while Lee was released on bail and later received a suspended sentence for imprisonment.

In 2002, Hwang published "Letters from Wild Grass," a book compiling parts of his prison letters related to wild plants. Hwang and Lee filed for a retrial of the spy group case in 2017, were acquitted in 2020, and after winning a criminal compensation claim for unlawful detention in 2020, they filed for damages against the government earlier this year.

The court ruled that the state has an obligation to compensate damages, citing that NSPA investigators arrested Hwang, Lee, and others without warrants and obtained involuntary confessions through torture and threats.

The court ordered the payment of approximately 320 million KRW to Hwang and about 53 million KRW to Lee as damages. Additionally, eight family members of Hwang were awarded between 44 million and 230 million KRW, and three family members of Lee were awarded between 9 million and 26 million KRW respectively.

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