Supreme Court Upholds Two-Year Prison Sentence for Noh Sangwon, “2nd Investigation Unit” Chief... First Final Ruling on Martial Law Incident

Extracted Agent Information for the “Election Fraud Investigation Team”
Also Accused of Accepting Bribes for “Promotion Requests”

Former Director of the Defense Security Command, Sangwon Noh, who operated as a so-called "unofficial channel" during the December 3 Emergency Martial Law, has been sentenced to two years in prison for leaking military secrets to form an election fraud investigation team and for accepting bribes under the pretext of personnel requests. This is the Supreme Court's first ruling related to the emergency martial law incident.

Former Director of the Defense Security Command, Sangwon Noh, suspected of premeditating the emergency martial law on December 3 and drafting the proclamation, is moving to a transport vehicle to be transferred to the prosecution at the Seoul Western Police Station in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, on the 24th. Photo by Jin-Hyung Kang

On May 12, the Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Park Youngjae) upheld the lower court's ruling in the final appeal of former Director Noh, who was indicted for violations of the Personal Information Protection Act and for receiving illicit brokerage fees under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, confirming a sentence of two years in prison and the forfeiture of 24.9 million won.

Former Director Noh was brought to trial in June of last year on charges of receiving military information, including the personal details of agents belonging to the Defense Security Command, to organize the Joint Investigation Headquarters’ Second Investigation Team for the Martial Law Command to investigate allegations of election fraud immediately after the declaration of martial law.

He is also accused of accepting 20 million won in cash and department store gift certificates worth 6 million won from Bonggyu Kim, former director of the Central Press Corps of the Defense Security Command (Colonel), and Samhoe Koo, commander of the Army 2nd Armored Brigade (Brigadier General), in August and September 2024 in exchange for promotion requests.

Both the first and second trial courts found all of these charges to be proven, sentencing him to two years in prison and ordering the forfeiture of 24.9 million won. The Supreme Court also determined there were no errors in the legal interpretation of the lower court's decision and ultimately dismissed former Director Noh's appeal.

At the time of martial law, former Director Noh, who was a civilian, is considered a key figure deeply involved in the planning of the emergency martial law as an "unofficial channel" for former Defense Minister Kim Yonghyeon. Separate from this ruling, former Director Noh was sentenced to 18 years in prison in the first trial of the main insurrection case for his alleged involvement in important duties related to insurrection, and his appeal is currently ongoing at the insurrection-specialized division of the Seoul High Court.

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