Prosecutors Review Supreme Court Ruling on 'Disposal of Inter-Korean Summit Records'... Seeking Legal Grounds in West Sea Killing Case

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] It has been confirmed that the prosecution investigating the 'West Sea Public Official Killing Incident' is closely reviewing the Supreme Court's recent ruling on the 'Disposal of the North-South Summit Meeting Minutes' case in relation to the application of legal principles.

According to the legal community on the 4th, the Public Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Hee-dong), which is investigating the case, has been examining the Supreme Court's judgment on the 'Disposal of the North-South Summit Meeting Minutes' case, which was finalized as guilty on the 28th of last month, to review applicable legal principles for the West Sea killing case.

The Supreme Court upheld the original sentence of one year imprisonment with two years probation in the final appeal trial of former Blue House Foreign Security Chief Baek Jong-cheon and former Blue House Security Secretary Cho Myung-gyun, who were indicted for violating the Presidential Records Act and damaging public electronic records.

They were charged with unlawfully deleting the document management card containing the draft minutes of the October 2007 Pyongyang North-South Summit Meeting, which qualifies as presidential records. The first and second trials acquitted them, stating that since the draft minutes did not have the approval of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun, they could not be considered presidential records. However, the Supreme Court made a different judgment.

Although former President Roh did not give final approval on the document management card, the court ruled that since he had viewed and confirmed the minutes, it should be regarded as de facto approval, thereby overturning the lower court's ruling. The retrial court, in line with the Supreme Court, determined that the deleted minutes should be considered presidential records. Furthermore, deleting the document management card attached to the draft minutes was deemed an offense of damaging public electronic records.

The prosecution is particularly focusing on the court's definition of 'electronic records used in public offices,' that is, public electronic records, as stated in this ruling. The court judged that electronic records used in public offices include documents prior to becoming official public documents, documents that have not undergone formal receipt and approval procedures, and documents rejected during the approval submission process.

In light of this judgment, the prosecution is interpreting the scope of 'public electronic records' broadly and is investigating whether there were any instructions to delete or modify such records without proper procedures in the ongoing cases.

The National Intelligence Service previously filed a complaint against former Director Park Ji-won regarding the 'West Sea Public Official Killing Incident,' citing charges of damaging public electronic records in the complaint.

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