Suspect Son Jun-seong in 'Accusation Manipulation' Case to Face First Trial on 24th Next Month... Choi Kang-wook and Hwang Hee-seok Selected as Witnesses

Son Junsung, Head of the Litigation Department at Seoul High Prosecutors' Office./Photo by Kim Hyunmin kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] Choi Kang-wook, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Hwang Hee-seok, former Supreme Council member of the Open Democratic Party, have been selected as witnesses for the first formal trial of Son Jun-sung, head of the Litigation Department at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, who has been indicted on charges including official secret leakage related to the 'accusation manipulation' allegations.

The Criminal Division 27 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Ok-gon) accepted the request from the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (HOCI) to summon the two as witnesses during the third pretrial hearing for Son, who was indicted on charges including official secret leakage, on the 26th.

The court decided to call Representative Choi and former Supreme Council member Hwang as witnesses at the first trial session scheduled for the 24th of next month. In addition to the two, journalists Shim In-bo from Newstapa and Jang In-soo from MBC are also expected to appear as witnesses on the same day.

HOCI explained the reason for requesting these four as witnesses, stating that they "provided the motive for the crime and were listed as accused in the complaint documents that the defendant delivered to Representative Kim Woong."

Meanwhile, HOCI had requested a large number of journalists who covered and reported on the case as witnesses, but these requests were not accepted.

Son's defense team opposed, saying, "HOCI has requested 60 to 80 journalists as witnesses, but it is questionable what significance hearing about their reporting process has in proving the charges in this case."

The court also stated, "Unless the person has directly heard from the parties involved or directly experienced the case, it will be difficult to accept journalists as witnesses," and asked HOCI to clarify the purpose of their witness requests.

The court concluded the pretrial procedures on this day and decided to hold trials every two weeks starting from the end of October to conduct evidence examination.

At the second trial session on November 7, the court plans to summon and question officials from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, and HOCI regarding Son's defense claim of 'illegally obtained evidence.'

The 'accusation manipulation' allegations refer to claims that in April 2020, ahead of the general elections, the prosecution instructed the then-opposition party, the United Future Party (predecessor of the People Power Party), to file complaints against pro-government figures.

Son, who was the head of the Investigation Information Policy Office at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, is accused of transmitting images related to complaints against pro-government figures such as Representative Choi, former Supreme Council member Hwang, and Yoo Si-min, then chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation, to Kim Woong, then a candidate for the United Future Party, via the Telegram messenger.

However, Son has consistently denied the charges, stating, "I never sent the complaint documents or related materials to Representative Kim Woong, nor did I conspire with him."

Following accusations from pro-government civic groups, HOCI investigated for eight months, including President Yoon Seok-youl, First Lady Kim Kun-hee, and Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon, in addition to Son and Representative Kim. In May, HOCI indicted Son without detention on four charges: violation of the Public Official Election Act, official secret leakage, violation of the Personal Information Protection Act, and violation of the Criminal Procedure Electronicization Act.

At the beginning of the investigation, HOCI Chief Kim Jin-wook expressed confidence in proving the charges, stating, "The core of this case is abuse of authority," but ultimately failed to apply the abuse of authority charge even to Son.

HOCI dismissed the abuse of authority and official secret leakage charges against Representative Kim and transferred the remaining charges, including the Public Official Election Act violation allegedly committed in conspiracy with Son, which were not subject to HOCI's prosecution or investigation, to the prosecution.

Additionally, HOCI cleared President Yoon, Minister Han, Representative Jeong Jeom-sik of the People Power Party, and three prosecutors who were investigated alongside Son. Regarding First Lady Kim, HOCI dismissed the abuse of authority charge and transferred the other alleged crimes to the prosecution.

Notably, during the investigation, two arrest warrants requested by HOCI for Son were rejected, and the court ruled that the search and seizure against Representative Kim was illegal, fueling public criticism of HOCI's 'excessive investigation.'

Moreover, controversy arose when it was revealed that HOCI indiscriminately conducted communication surveillance on journalists and ordinary citizens during the investigation.

Meanwhile, in June, HOCI dismissed charges against former National Intelligence Service Director Park Ji-won related to the 'accusation manipulation' tip-off allegations, including violations of the National Intelligence Service Act, election law, and the Information and Communications Network Act (defamation). These allegations involved Park's alleged involvement with whistleblower Jo Seong-eun and news outlet Newsbus, which falsely reported that then-presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl was involved in the 'accusation manipulation.'

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