Supreme Court Confirms Not Guilty Verdict for Former Lawmaker Choi Kyung-hwan on 'Intern KPC Hiring Pressure' Charges

Former National Assembly member Choi Kyung-hwan. Photo by Asia Economy DB

The acquittal of former Liberty Korea Party (now People Power Party) lawmaker Choi Kyung-hwan, who was indicted on charges of exerting undue pressure to hire an intern employee at his constituency office through the Small and Medium Business Corporation (SBC), has been finalized.

The Supreme Court ruled that although former lawmaker Choi used his position to request a hiring favor, such conduct does not constitute the crimes of abuse of authority or coercion, and found no issues with the lower court's judgment.

On the 16th, the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice No Tae-ak) dismissed the prosecution's appeal in the final trial of former lawmaker Choi, who was indicted on charges of abuse of authority and coercion, and upheld the lower court's acquittal.

The court stated, "There is no error in the lower court's ruling that it did not violate the limits of free evaluation by failing to conduct necessary hearings, nor did it misunderstand the legal requirements for abuse of authority or the notification of harm in coercion."

Former lawmaker Choi was indicted on charges of exerting undue pressure on former SBC Chairman Park Cheol-gyu in 2013, when Choi was a member of the National Assembly's Industry, Trade and Energy Committee overseeing the SBC, to hire Hwang Mo, who worked as an intern at Choi's constituency office in Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk, handling support tasks such as managing sponsorship funds and receiving local complaints.

According to the prosecution, the SBC manipulated Hwang's first-round document screening score from 2140th to 176th place, and his aptitude test score from 164th to 146th place, and even increased the number of successful candidates to ensure Hwang's passing.

However, Hwang, who was initially rejected in the second interview due to strong opposition from external interviewers, was ultimately accepted after a private meeting between former lawmaker Choi and former Chairman Park changed the interview results.

Former lawmaker Choi, upon hearing from former Chairman Park during his visit to Choi's National Assembly office that "there is strong opposition from external members, so it seems difficult to hire Hwang," said, "Just do it. He's like a child I've even married off. He's diligent and decent, so trust him and give him a chance."

Former Chairman Park suggested, "If this becomes public, it might harm you, so how about having him work as a non-regular employee for one more year and reapply next year?" but former lawmaker Choi insisted again, saying, "Alright, it's fine. Just do it."

The prosecution viewed former lawmaker Choi's actions as an abuse of his authority as a lawmaker and coercion, as former Chairman Park, feeling intimidated, unjustly allowed Hwang to pass, thereby compelling him to perform an unlawful act, and brought charges against Choi for abuse of authority and coercion.

In court, former lawmaker Choi denied meeting former Chairman Park or requesting Hwang's acceptance. He also argued that even if such events occurred, requesting hiring at the SBC does not fall within a lawmaker's general official duties, so abuse of authority cannot be established. He further claimed that his actions did not constitute the 'threat' element required for coercion.

The first trial court, based on various evidence and witness testimonies, acknowledged that former lawmaker Choi met former Chairman Park and requested Hwang's hiring.

However, the court concluded that the evidence submitted by the prosecution was insufficient to prove the crime, and thus could not recognize the establishment of abuse of authority or coercion charges.

The court reasoned that former lawmaker Choi merely requested former Chairman Park to hire Hwang, and there was no evidence that he threatened to exercise oversight or supervisory authority over the SBC or former Chairman Park to cause any disadvantage if the request was not followed, so there was no formal or external appearance of official duty execution in Choi's actions.

Furthermore, the court found that requesting hiring at the SBC cannot be considered part of a lawmaker's general official duties. Even if Choi could exercise post-management and supervisory authority over the SBC through his standing committee activities, requesting the hiring of a specific individual with whom he had a personal relationship is clearly unrelated to such authority, and thus does not meet the requirements for abuse of authority.

The court concluded, "The defendant's act of requesting the SBC chairman to hire a person with whom he has a personal relationship constitutes an illegal act using his position or status on matters outside the authority of a lawmaker, but it cannot be considered abuse of authority."

It was also difficult to conclude that former lawmaker Choi implicitly threatened harm merely by repeatedly requesting hiring from former Chairman Park, and although former Chairman Park appeared to have feelings of disappointment, resentment, or anger toward Choi, it was doubtful whether he was so intimidated as to restrict his freedom of decision-making, making it difficult to find the 'threat' element required for coercion.

However, the court stated, "Interpretation and application of criminal laws must be strict. Even if the crime's consequences are very serious and the motive, method, and circumstances are highly blameworthy, these factors may be considered unfavorable in sentencing but cannot be used to broaden the meaning of the criminal law provisions against the defendant or to relax the burden of proof in criminal trials."

It added, "This court's judgment that the specific criminal facts stated in the indictment do not correspond to the crimes charged under the applicable laws based solely on the evidence submitted by the prosecution does not imply that the defendant's actions are ethically or morally justified or permissible."

The court also expressed discomfort, stating, "Although related SBC personnel who directly committed hiring corruption following the defendant's hiring request were convicted, acquitting the defendant who made the hiring request may be unfair when considering only the outcome and may conflict with public sentiment."

Nevertheless, the court stated, "However, under the charges stated in the indictment, unless there is certainty of the defendant's guilt, the basic principle of criminal law 'when in doubt, favor the defendant' must be followed."

Former lawmaker Choi appealed, but the second trial court reached the same conclusion.

Former lawmaker Choi served as a member of the National Assembly for the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th terms representing Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk, and held positions as floor leader of the Saenuri Party (now People Power Party) and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance during the Park Geun-hye administration.

Choi was arrested and indicted in January 2018 on charges of receiving bribes in the form of special activity funds from the National Intelligence Service. In July 2019, the Supreme Court sentenced him to five years in prison, and he was released on parole in March last year.

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