Supreme Court Confirms Not Guilty Verdict for Former Yongsan Police Chief on 'Unfair Personnel Retaliation' Charges

Supreme Court, Seocho-dong, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The acquittal of former Seoul Yongsan Police Station Chief Kim Kyung-won (54), who was accused of transferring a subordinate police officer to a police box after ordering 'detention investigation' or 'sending with a prosecution opinion' upon a complainant's request but was not followed, has been finalized.

The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice No Tae-ak) upheld the appellate court's ruling that overturned the first trial's guilty verdict and acquitted former Chief Kim in the final appeal trial on charges of coercion and abuse of official authority.

The court stated the reason for dismissing the appeal, saying, "There is no error in the appellate court's judgment as claimed in the grounds for appeal, such as violating the rules of logic and experience, exceeding the limits of free evaluation of evidence, or misinterpreting the legal principles regarding the establishment of abuse of official authority and coercion."

According to the prosecution's charges, former Chief Kim, while serving as the Yongsan Police Station Chief between February and March 2016, received a request from Mr. A, the de facto operator of a maintenance company introduced by the Information Division 2 Chief of the same police station, who asked him to handle the cases of four people accused by the housing redevelopment maintenance association for fraud in a way favorable to the complainant side.

Subsequently, without properly grasping the facts and evidence of the case, former Chief Kim repeatedly ordered Lieutenant B, the head of the Economic Division 2 team in charge of the case, to "fabricate charges and detain them," and through Lieutenant B, continuously pressured Sergeant C, who was directly conducting the investigation.

However, when Sergeant C sent the case to the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office on May 4, 2016, with a non-prosecution opinion despite former Chief Kim's orders, Kim held a grudge and on May 11 of the same year, summoned Lieutenant B and Sergeant C to strongly reprimand them. He pressured them by threatening to conduct an internal investigation and impose disciplinary action if Sergeant C did not apply for a transfer to a police box. Eventually, intimidated, Sergeant C verbally applied for the transfer to the police box to former Chief Kim on May 27 of the same year and was actually assigned to the police box.

The prosecution judged that former Chief Kim forced Sergeant C to perform an unnecessary act of applying for a transfer to a police box, based on the investigative police personnel management regulations that require the approval of the provincial police chief when transferring a qualified investigative police officer to a department other than the investigative department, and indicted former Chief Kim on charges of coercion and abuse of official authority.

In the first trial, the court found former Chief Kim guilty of these charges and sentenced him to 10 months in prison with a two-year probation. Since the case that Sergeant C sent with a non-prosecution opinion was upheld by both the prosecution and the court, it could not be seen that Sergeant C's investigation was wrong. Moreover, former Chief Kim was reported to have expressed strong dissatisfaction with the handling of his case through the head of the investigation team and others, and Sergeant C, who was concerned about being subject to an internal audit due to inquiries from the Hearing and Inspection Office, was strongly reprimanded by former Chief Kim at the investigative guidance meeting, mentioning the audit. The court judged this was sufficient to be considered a threat restricting Sergeant C's freedom of decision.

However, the second trial's judgment was different.

For former Chief Kim to be recognized as guilty of abuse of official authority and other charges, it must be established that he threatened Sergeant C by showing an attitude as if disciplinary procedures would be taken if Sergeant C did not apply for a transfer to the police box despite no disciplinary reasons, and that Sergeant C, due to such conduct, applied for the transfer against his will and was transferred (causal relationship). The court found it difficult to recognize these facts based solely on the evidence submitted by the prosecution.

With the acquittal finalized by the Supreme Court, former Chief Kim avoided criminal punishment but could not escape demotion.

Earlier, the police, after investigating former Chief Kim, uncovered acts such as introducing the case parties to the investigating officers or inviting a lawyer to a dinner and having the lawyer pay the bill, and demoted former Chief Kim from Senior Superintendent to Superintendent at the end of 2016.

Former Chief Kim filed a personnel appeal against this disciplinary action, which was dismissed, and then filed an administrative lawsuit but lost.

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