'Summit Meeting Minutes Destruction' Baek Jongcheon and Cho Myunggyun Found Guilty in Retrial

Former Blue House Director of Foreign Affairs and Security Cheong Wa Dae Baek Jong-cheon (left) and former Blue House Security Secretary Cho Myung-gyun, who were prosecuted on charges of destroying the draft minutes of the 2007 inter-Korean summit [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Baek Jongcheon, former director of the Blue House Office of Foreign Affairs and Security, and Cho Myunggyun, former Blue House Security Policy Secretary, who were indicted for conspiring to destroy the minutes of the 2007 inter-Korean summit, were found guilty in the retrial after remand.

On the afternoon of the 9th, the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 8 (Presiding Judges Bae Hyungwon, Kang Sangwook, Bae Sangwon) sentenced Baek and others, who were indicted for violating the Presidential Records Management Act and damaging official electronic records, to one year in prison with a two-year probation.

This case was triggered by controversy over whether former President Roh made a statement abandoning the Northern Limit Line (NLL) during the 2007 summit. The prosecution alleged that former President Roh instructed Baek and others to withhold the transfer of the minutes to conceal his remarks that could be interpreted as abandoning the NLL, and that they deleted the draft minutes and failed to transfer them to the Presidential Archives as instructed, leading to their prosecution.

Initially, the first and second trials acquitted them, judging that the draft minutes they deleted were documents created before presidential approval and could not be considered presidential records.

However, the Supreme Court, unlike the lower courts, ruled that the draft minutes should be regarded as presidential records. "Whether the approver gave approval should be comprehensively considered not only by the signature but also by instructions on the document, relevant legal provisions, and work procedures," the Supreme Court pointed out at the time, adding, "Former President Roh selected the 'document processing' and 'viewing' commands to confirm and review the contents of the minutes, which generated electronic signatures and processing logs."

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