hankyoreh

By Hwang Chun-hwa

　The late former Capital Defense Command chief Yoon Pil-yong has had his name cleared 39 years after an unjust imprisonment.

　Yoon, who died in 2010 at the age of 83, was purged, along with officers who followed him, on charges of embezzlement and bribe-taking after a statement he made in 1973 to then-Korean Central Intelligence Agency director Lee Hu-rak at a drinking party. Yoon remarked that then-president Park Chung-hee was “old and feeble now, so we should make him step down and have you be his successor”. This statement was taken as a conspiracy to carry out a coup.

　In 1973, Yoon was charged with conspiring with officers to carry out a coup d’etat owing to those remarks. But he and the others ended up sentenced to one to fifteen years in prison on charges of bribe-taking and embezzlement rather than conspiracy. The Supreme Court set Yoon‘s sentence at 12 years in prison.

　He received a special pardon after serving seven years and went on to hold posts as president of the Korea Expressway Corporation, chairman of the board at the Korea Monopoly Corporation, and president of KT&G before passing away in 2010 after a long illness.

　The 11th criminal division of Seoul High Court, under judge Gang Hyeong-ju, said Wednesday that it had found Yoon not guilty in the retrial of a case in which he had previously been found guilty of appropriating unit operation expenses and taking money and/or gifts.

　The court said it was impossible to conclude that the money received by Yoon was a donation for the unit, since “gifts” were often given by visiting businessmen and other powerful figures. Yoon was a figure of considerable influence due to factors including his close relationship with the president.

　“Even if it is granted that some of the money used by Yoon included intelligence costs and other national budget funds, there is no evidence to distinguish the money he received personally from intelligence costs,” the court said.

　Regarding allegations that Yoon took money and/or gifts in connection with a request to increase the size of the athletic department at Hanyang University, the court said no relationship was established between the then CDC commander and the request, and that there was no basis for acknowledging him as a party to bribery.

　Former brigadier generals Kim Seong-bae and Son Yeong-gil, who served time in connection with the case, were both found not guilty in a 2009 retrial. The state was ordered to pay over 400 million won (about $355,000) in damages to Kim in a separate indemnification claim.

　　Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]