Court: "State to Compensate Family of Former Hyundai Museum Director Kim Yoon-su, Victim of Emergency Measure No. 9"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The court has ruled that the state must pay compensation worth around 100 million won to the family of former National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Director Kim Yoon-soo, who was imprisoned for about six months for violating Emergency Measure No. 9.

According to the legal community on the 19th, the Seoul High Court Civil Division 13 (Presiding Judges Kang Min-gu, Jung Moon-kyung, Lee Joon-hyun) recently ruled in favor of the plaintiff in part, just as in the first trial, in a damages lawsuit filed by Kim’s spouse against the state.

In December 1975, Kim, who was a full-time lecturer at Ewha Womans University College of Fine Arts, was prosecuted for violating Emergency Measure No. 9 by possessing and distributing poet Kim Ji-ha’s declaration of conscience. He was sentenced to one year in prison with a two-year probation in the first trial and was released 175 days after his arrest. During the first trial, he was dismissed from his lecturer position. In the appeal trial, the sentence was suspended.

Later, on November 21, 2018, Kim was acquitted in a retrial, clearing the charges after 43 years. He passed away on November 29 of the same month, shortly after the acquittal was confirmed. Following the confirmation of his innocence, Kim’s spouse filed a civil lawsuit against the state in June 2019, claiming a total of about 270 million won in consolation money and lost income (income not earned due to imprisonment).

In September 2020, the first trial court recognized the state’s liability for compensation, stating that "there is a causal relationship between the illegal acts such as harsh treatment by investigators during the investigation process and the deceased’s guilty verdict." The Korea Legal Aid Corporation, representing the state in the lawsuit, appealed the first trial’s ruling, but the outcome did not change.

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