Government Partially Wins Lawsuit for Reimbursement Against Deputy Chief Prosecutor Who Assaulted Late Prosecutor Kim Hong-Young... "850 Million Won Payment"

by Choi Sukjin

Published 28 Jul.2023 17:56(KST)

The government partially won a lawsuit seeking reimbursement from former Chief Prosecutor Kim Dae-hyun (55, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 27), who assaulted the late Prosecutor Kim Hong-young, leading to his extreme choice, for the compensation of over 1.3 billion won paid by the state to the bereaved family.

According to the legal community on the 28th, the Civil Division 41 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Jeong Hoe-il) ruled that former Chief Prosecutor Kim must pay the state over 850 million won in the reimbursement lawsuit filed by the state against him.

On the morning of October 8, 2020, at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office in Yangcheon-gu, the late Prosecutor Kim Hong-young's father is wiping Kim's memorial plaque with a handkerchief.

Prosecutor Kim left a suicide note expressing work stress and job pressure while working in the Criminal Division of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office in May 2016 and made an extreme choice at the age of 33.

Former Chief Prosecutor Kim, who was Prosecutor Kim's superior, was dismissed at the Ministry of Justice's Prosecutor Disciplinary Committee held in August 2016. He filed a lawsuit to cancel the dismissal but ultimately lost at the Supreme Court in March 2019.

Meanwhile, in November 2019, the Korean Bar Association filed charges against former Chief Prosecutor Kim for coercion, assault, and insult. After going through the Prosecutors' Investigation Committee, the prosecution indicted former Chief Prosecutor Kim without detention in October 2020 on assault charges, and in March of this year, the Supreme Court confirmed an eight-month prison sentence.

The bereaved family of Prosecutor Kim filed a lawsuit against the state in November 2019, claiming over 1.3 billion won in damages. The Civil Division 20 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Hyung-seok) held a mediation hearing in June 2021 and issued a compulsory mediation decision, which the bereaved family agreed to by submitting a consent form, resulting in a decision in lieu of mediation.

Following the court's decision, the state paid over 1.3 billion won to the bereaved family and filed a reimbursement lawsuit against former Chief Prosecutor Kim in October 2021. Article 2, Paragraph 2 of the State Compensation Act stipulates that when a state or local government compensates for damages caused by a public official's intentional or negligent violation of laws during the execution of duties, it may seek reimbursement from the public official if there was intentional or gross negligence.

In the trial, former Chief Prosecutor Kim's side argued that "Prosecutor Kim made an extreme choice due to excessive workload, not verbal abuse or assault," and claimed that the state's exercise of the right of reimbursement was inappropriate.

However, the court ruled that "there is a substantial causal relationship between former Chief Prosecutor Kim's actions and Prosecutor Kim's death, and if former Chief Prosecutor Kim had exercised even slight caution, he could have sufficiently foreseen that Prosecutor Kim might make an extreme choice," and judged that the state's exercise of the right of reimbursement was justified.

However, considering that the Government Employees Pension Service paid the bereaved family of Prosecutor Kim a compensation for death in the line of duty in 2016, only about 850 million won of the claimed 1.3 billion won was recognized. Before the court's decision, the Government Employees Pension Service paid about 100 million won in death compensation to Prosecutor Kim's father, but the state did not deduct this when calculating the damages, and considering that the Government Employees Pension Service is directly seeking reimbursement from former Chief Prosecutor Kim, this judgment was made.