Kim Tae-woo, head of the Gangseo-gu Office in Seoul, who raised suspicions of ignoring the inspection of the then chief civil servant Cho Kuk as a member of the Blue House special inspection team, Moon Jae-in, was sentenced to ‘one year in prison and two years of probation’ by the Supreme Court on the 18th for leaking official secrets. District Mayor Kim, who filed a public interest report, lost his position as mayor with the Supreme Court ruling that day. However, the trial of the suspects of the Moon Jae-in administration’s ‘corruption by power’, which he exposed, is still in the second trial. Although he was sentenced to imprisonment in the first trial, he was not even arrested in court.
The first division of the Supreme Court (Presiding Judge Park Jeong-hwa) confirmed the original judgment that sentenced Mayor Kim Tae-woo to 1 year in prison and 2 years probation. In February 2019, during the Moon Jae-in administration, Mayor Kim held a press conference at the National Assembly and exposed the suspicion that the Blue House Civil Affairs Office had cleared the investigation of various charges of misconduct by then Busan City Vice Mayor Yoo Jae-soo. Yoo was known to call President Moon Jae-in his brother in private.
Then, Lim Jong-seok, chief of staff at the Blue House at the time, sued Kim Tae-woo for allegedly leaking official secrets in 15 of the 35 allegations revealed. Prosecutors handed over Mayor Kim to trial in relation to five of these cases.
Afterwards, Mayor Kim was sentenced to one year in prison and two years of probation in both the first and second trials under the system of Supreme Court Chief Kim Myung-soo, who was appointed by former President Moon Jae-in. Justice Park Jeong-hwa, who confirmed the lower court decision that day, was also appointed by former President Moon, and is from the Woori Law Research Association, a group of progressive judges.
After being convicted by the Supreme Court that day, Mayor Kim Tae-woo said, “I reported Moon Jae-in to the public interest for the Blue House’s concealment of irregularities, but Moon Jae-in’s prosecution prosecuted and Kim Myung-soo’s court accepted the prosecution’s argument.” Common sense, justice, and the rule of law.”
Cho Kuk, former senior secretary for civil affairs, who was indicted for ignoring former vice-mayor Yoo Jae-soo’s inspection and for corruption in his children’s entrance examination, was sentenced to two years in prison in the first trial in February, but was not arrested in court. Former civil affairs secretary Baek Won-woo, who was prosecuted only for the case of ignoring the inspection, was also sentenced to 10 months in prison, but was not arrested in court either. A lawyer said, “The trial of those suspected of misconduct is still in progress, but it is difficult to understand the situation in which the person who made the public interest report was found guilty and lost his post as mayor.”
In this regard, the Democratic Party of Korea also requested the Supreme Court to promptly pass a judgment on District Mayor Kim Tae-woo. On the 10th of last month, Democratic Party Seoul Party Chairman Kim Young-ho, and members of the National Assembly Kang Seon-woo, Jin Seong-jun, and Han Jeong-ae, who are from Gangseo-gu, Seoul, released a related statement. Regarding this, a lawyer said, “Democratic Party lawmakers say that Gangseo-gu’s policies are difficult to carry out and residents’ uneasiness is increasing because Mayor Kim is on trial, but there must be a calculation that if Mayor Kim resigns, a Democratic Party may become mayor.” said카지노사이트.
In addition, the lawyers of District Chief Kim said, “The Moon Jae-in administration’s prosecutors selectively prosecuted only those cases in which Moon Jae-in’s Blue House personnel were in an advantageous position in the investigation or trial process among the contents of the disclosure of Chief Kim.”
Meanwhile, on this day, the first division of the Supreme Court (presiding judge Oh Kyung-mi) confirmed a fine of 10 million won for the accountant of the election office of Rep. Kim Seon-gyo of People’s Power for violating the Political Fund Act, and Rep. Kim lost his position as a member of the National Assembly. Justice Oh delivered a verdict three months after the case was brought up to the Supreme Court.
By the way, Supreme Court Justice Oh has been in charge of the case since last June that Democratic Party lawmaker Choi Kang-wook wrote a false internship certificate for the son of former Justice Minister Cho Kook to enter graduate school, but has not rendered a ruling. Rep. Choi was sentenced to loss of his position as a member of the parliament of ‘8 months in prison and 2 years of probation’ in the appeals court, but he is maintaining his position as a member of the parliament as the Supreme Court’s final decision was delayed.
Supreme Court Justice Oh was also appointed by former President Moon Jae-in and is a member of the International Human Rights Law Research Society, a progressive judge research group. A lawyer who used to be a judge said, “The Supreme Court justices appointed by the Moon Jae-in government are highly likely to be criticized for conducting trials based on partisan interests.”
The’Ulsan Mayoral Election Intervention Case’, which was handed over to trial on charges that Moon Jae-in Blue House targeted investigations of opposition candidates and bribed competing candidates within the ruling party, was prosecuted by the prosecution in January 2020, but has remained in the first trial for three years and four months. In February, after two years and five months, the first trial came out in the case where independent Democratic Party lawmaker Yoon Mi-hyang was prosecuted for embezzling donations for the comfort women of the Japanese military.