Jung Kyung-shim Faces '15 Charges' Including Child Admission Fraud and Capital Markets Act Violations, Today Is the 'Day of Destiny'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The Supreme Court's ruling on Jeong Gyeong-sim, former professor at Dongyang University and wife of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, who was sentenced to four years in prison in the first and second trials on 15 charges including admission fraud involving her children, will be announced today. This comes about two years and five months after the prosecution began its investigation.

The Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Cheon Dae-yeop) will hold the final appeal hearing for Jeong, who was indicted on charges including obstruction of business and violation of the Capital Markets Act, at 10:15 a.m. on the 27th.

The prosecution first indicted Jeong in September 2019 on charges of forging a certificate of commendation for her daughter Cho Min at Dongyang University. Subsequently, Jeong and former Minister Cho Kuk were investigated by the prosecution on suspicions that they agreed to invest more money in a private equity fund than their publicly disclosed assets and that they exerted improper influence or fabricated documents during their children's admission process.

The prosecution further investigated and brought to trial Cho Kuk's younger brother Cho Gwon and fifth cousin Cho Beom-dong. In November 2019, Jeong was additionally indicted on 14 charges including false reporting under the Capital Markets Act, use of insider information, violations of the Real Name Financial Transactions Act, and the Act on the Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment.

The first trial recognized most of the 15 charges as guilty and sentenced her to four years in prison, a fine of 500 million won, and confiscation of approximately 140 million won. The second trial also found her guilty on all charges related to admission fraud (including obstruction of business) and upheld the four-year prison sentence. However, some charges related to insider trading involving undisclosed information about the secondary battery company WFM were overturned, reducing the fine and confiscation to 50 million won and about 10 million won, respectively.

The final verdict for Jeong hinges on whether the evidentiary validity of the Dongyang University PC is recognized. This PC contained the forged certificate file of Jeong's daughter Cho Min. The prosecution seized the PC, which was discarded in the university's lounge during a search, confirmed signs of forgery, and submitted it as evidence in court. Both the first and second trials accepted it as evidence.

However, the situation changed when the court in the first trial of former Minister Cho Kuk, who faces the same charges as Jeong, ruled on the 24th of last month not to accept the Dongyang University PC as evidence. The court reasoned that the seizure of the PC was illegal because the prosecution did not guarantee Jeong's right to participate during the seizure process. This decision was based on a ruling by the Supreme Court's Grand Bench in November last year. In that case, the Supreme Court Grand Bench ruled that the seizure of voluntarily submitted items without guaranteeing the party's participation was illegal, referencing a case where a woman who was a victim of illegal filming submitted two mobile phones of the perpetrator to the police, and thus did not accept the phones as evidence.

This ruling may also affect Jeong's case. It is known that Jeong's defense team applied for bail on the 10th citing health deterioration and argued that the PC seized from the Dongyang University lounge by the prosecution to prove admission fraud charges was illegal evidence, based on the Supreme Court Grand Bench's judgment.

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