Three Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Officials Face First Trial Today Over Wolseong Nuclear Plant Data Deletion... One Year Since Indictment

Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant. Photo by Asia Economy DB

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The first trial for Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy officials accused of unauthorized deletion of data related to the Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant ahead of the Board of Audit and Inspection’s audit will be held on the 14th. It has been almost a year since they were indicted on December 23 last year.

The Criminal Division 11 of Daejeon District Court (Presiding Judge Park Heon-haeng) will conduct the first hearing at 2 p.m. on the same day for three officials: Mr. A and Mr. B, director-level Ministry officials who ordered the deletion of Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant data, and Mr. C, a Ministry official who directly deleted the data.

Previously, the prosecution indicted Mr. A and Mr. C in custody and Mr. B out of custody on charges including damage to public electronic records, violation of the Board of Audit and Inspection Act, and trespassing into computer systems.

Mr. A and Mr. B are accused of ordering, condoning, or aiding the deletion of data related to Wolseong Unit 1 around November 2019, just before the Board of Audit and Inspection requested the data. Mr. C was indicted for directly deleting the data late at night on December 1, 2019, one day before a meeting with the Board of Audit and Inspection auditors.

The court has held five preparatory hearings to organize the issues of the case.

During this process, the prosecution and defense submitted nearly 30 written opinions to the court regarding the nature of the 530 deleted files, the circumstances of the file deletion, and the legality of the Board of Audit and Inspection’s warrantless digital forensic investigation, signaling an intense legal battle.

In particular, the defense argued, “We received a response to the Ministry’s fact inquiry stating that only 44 of the deleted files can be considered finalized documents,” and added, “Moreover, since all 530 files remain on the Ministry’s server, it is difficult to conclude that the originals were destroyed.”

At the fifth preparatory hearing held last month, the prosecution cited a Supreme Court precedent that ruled the first and second trial judgments acquitting former Blue House officials of the Roh Moo-hyun administration who were indicted for destroying records of the 2007 inter-Korean summit were incorrect, arguing that the data deleted by Mr. A and others should be classified as “public electronic records.”

On the other hand, the defense contended, “It is unreasonable to classify even unfinished documents as public electronic records,” and countered, “Regarding the Board of Audit and Inspection’s digital forensic investigation, since the regulations require consent, constituting a violation of the Board of Audit and Inspection Act based on a forensic investigation conducted without consent is illegal.”

The court is expected to conduct documentary evidence examination and then schedule witness questioning. Previously, nine witnesses, including Ministry officials and Board of Audit and Inspection staff, were selected during the preparatory hearings.

Meanwhile, the Daejeon District Court Criminal Division 11 is also handling trials related to the manipulation of the economic feasibility evaluation of Wolseong Unit 1, involving former Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Baek Woon-gyu, former Blue House Industrial Policy Secretary Chae Hee-bong, and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power President Jung Jae-hoon. The second preparatory hearing has been completed.

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