hankyoreh

2014 edition of Hankyoreh 21 weekly magazine

Is Kim Yong-pan getting the last laugh? The former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency commissioner’s beaming face already appeared once on the cover of Hankyoreh 21 after he was acquitted by Seoul Central District Court in February over allegations of intentional concealment and failure to pursue leads in the investigation into interference by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) in the 2012 presidential election (Issue No. 998, “The Truth Will Out”). He laughed again in June when Seoul High Court upheld the lower court’s not-guilty ruling. “No matter how dark the night may get, you can’t stop the morning light,” Kim said at the time. “The truth will out.”

Former NIS director Won Sei-hoon, another figure who showed his “loyalty to the country,” received a suspended sentence his first trial for election interference in September. Judge Lee Beom-gyun of the 21st criminal settlement division of Seoul Central District Court argued that while Won, who was charged with violating the Public Official Election Act and National Intelligence Service Act, did violate the latter with the online posting activities of the NIS psychological operations divisions, they could not be construed as violating the Public Official Election Act. In essence, the court agreed that Won had directed opposition efforts against a particular party/politician, but argued this could not be seen as interference in the election. Curiously, Lee was the judge for both of the first trials that relieved Kim and Won of responsibility.

But while the unpursued leads in the case may have faded briefly from public attention, they now look to be coming back. On Nov. 28, Judge Seong Su-je of the 5th criminal appeals division at Seoul Central District Court overturned a lower-court ruling giving a nine-month suspended sentence to an SMPA inspector surnamed Park who was charged with destroying evidence during prosecutors’ confiscation of investigation records in the election interference case. The new ruling sentenced Park to nine months’ jail time suspended for two years.

“While the crime was not minor, the fact that it was not systematic was taken into account,” the court said by way of explaining the sentence. Park was released the same day.

Only time, it appears, will tell whether the truth really will come to the light, or whether loyalty will be rewarded.

Former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency commissioner Kim Yong-pan arrived at Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office to hear the final verdict in his first trial on charges of concealing evidence of the NIS’s election interference

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Former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency commissioner Kim Yong-pan arrived at Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office to hear the final verdict in his first trial on charges of concealing evidence of the NIS’s election interference, Feb. 6. (by Park Jong-shik, staff photographer)