Former Seocho District Office Director Awarded 57 Million KRW Criminal Compensation for Leaking Information on Chaedongwook's Extramarital Child

Seoul High Court. / Photo by Mun Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Jo Ije, former Director of Administrative Support at Seocho District Office, who was sentenced to prison and detained for illegally accessing the personal information of a child identified as the extramarital child of former Prosecutor General Chae Dongwook but later had his sentence changed to a fine, has been awarded criminal compensation related to his detention.

According to the legal community on the 27th, the Criminal Division 5 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Seo Seungryeol, Park Jaeyoung, Kim Sangcheol) decided to grant Jo former Director a total criminal compensation of 57,104,000 KRW, including 51,520,000 KRW for detention compensation and 5,584,000 KRW for attorney fees.

Previously, Jo was prosecuted for ordering a subordinate on June 11, 2013, to access the family relation registry of the child identified as the extramarital son of former Prosecutor General Chae and handing it over to a National Intelligence Service employee and a Blue House administrative officer.

The first trial in November 2014 found Jo guilty and sentenced him to eight months in prison. Jo, who was detained in court, was released on bail in May 2015 while awaiting the second trial.

The second trial in January 2016 also found Jo guilty, similar to the first trial. However, it reduced the sentence to a fine of 10 million KRW, stating, "The defendant's role was very limited, and attributing all responsibility to him does not align with the principle of individual criminal responsibility." The Supreme Court upheld this judgment on December 30 of last year.

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