First Trial of Son Junsung in 'Gobal Saju' Allegation... Denies Key Facts in Indictment

Son Joon-sung, head of the Litigation Department at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, who was indicted on allegations of instigating a report for prosecution, is attending a trial held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 24th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Son Junsung, head of the Litigation Department at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, who was indicted on charges including official secret leakage related to the 'accusation manipulation' suspicion, denied the main facts of the indictment in his first formal trial.

On the morning of the 24th, the 27th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Okgon) held the first trial of Prosecutor Son, who was indicted on charges including official secret leakage.

On this day, Son's defense attorney pointed out, "There are parts of the background facts in the indictment that are unrelated to the defendant," and "Many of the submitted evidences lack evidentiary value due to illegal search and seizure procedures."

Prosecutor Son also denied the main facts of the indictment. When the court asked, "Is there any fact that you sent Chosun Ilbo articles, Facebook post screenshots, and accusation letters to Kim Woong via Telegram?" Son replied, "No." To the court's question, "'Regarding the main parts of the indictment that the defendant was involved, is it true that such facts do not exist?'" he answered, "Yes."

The trial began with the witness examination of Jang Insu, an MBC reporter who reported on the 'accusation manipulation' suspicion. Previously, the court had summoned Choi Kangwook, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Hwang Heeseok, former Supreme Council member of the Open Democratic Party, as witnesses. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) explained the reason for the witness application, stating, "They provided the motive for the crime and were listed as accused in the accusation letters delivered by the defendant to Assemblyman Kim Woong."

The 'accusation manipulation' suspicion refers to allegations that in April 2020, ahead of the general election, the prosecution manipulated the then-opposition party, the United Future Party (predecessor of the People Power Party), to accuse pro-government figures.

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

Following a citizen group's accusation, the CIO investigated for eight months, including Son, Assemblyman Kim, President Yoon Suk-yeol, First Lady Kim Geon-hee, and Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon. In May, the CIO 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 Electronic Criminal Procedure Act. Assemblyman Kim, who was a civilian at the time, was referred to the prosecution with a recommendation for indictment. However, the prosecution overturned the CIO's investigation results, citing unclear transmission routes of the accusation letters, and dismissed charges against Assemblyman Kim.

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