hankyoreh

former head of the psychological operations division at the R.O.K. Cyber Command

The former head of the psychological operations division at the R.O.K. Cyber Command was sentenced to two years in prison for political interference in the 2012 presidential election.

Lee Tae-ha, 62, had been charged with political interference and incitement to destroy evidence under the Military Criminal Act for enlisting the organization’s commanders in a systematic operation to spread internet and social media posts slandering opposition candidates and politicians and supporting ruling party candidates and policies during the election.

The judgment comes after a previous military court ruling handing down suspended and deferred sentences, respectively, against former commanders Yeon Je-wook and Ok Do-gyeong, who were prosecuted on the same charges. Both Yeon and Ok were found guilty of political interference, but the court accepted the “need to execute cyber warfare duties” as an extenuating circumstance.

The latest civilian court ruling, which found the Cyber Command’s activities to constitute active election interference and included a jail sentence, is now raising questions about whether the military court went too easy in its punishment.

The eleventh criminal division of Seoul Eastern District Court, under judge Ha Hyeon-guk, took Lee into court custody on May 15 after handing down a two-year sentence for ordering members of the Cyber Command’s psychological operations division (Unit 530) to distribute 12,844 politically biased posts online between Nov. 11 and Oct. 2013, as well as the destruction of evidence after the investigation began. Lee had previously been indicted without detention.

In Aug. 2014, the Ministry of National Defense investigation headquarters rebutted allegations of Cyber Command manipulation of public opinion during the 2012 presidential election.

“There were acts that violated the military’s duty to remain politically neutral, but it is not true that they acted systematically to interfere in the election,” the ministry said at the time.

But the civilian court’s guilty verdict against Lee on May 15 referred to numerous examples of evidence that the military’s behavior before the election crossed the line from simple defense of administration policies to active interference.

An example came on election eve in October and November of 2012, when Lee instructed a sergeant first class and division member, also surnamed Lee, and three others to write posts “slandering [then-opposition candidates] Ahn Cheol-soo and Moon Jae-in and supporting [ruling party candidate and eventual winner] Park Geun-hye.”

Unit members were also instructed to “include all issues, including political ones” when drafting response operation outcome reports, and to “not hesitate to use political language such as ‘election interference’ in situations where there is clear indication of North Korea’s intent to interfere in the presidential election.”

At one point during the election, Lee summoned unit members to a restaurant in Seoul’s Noryangjin neighborhood to praise them for “a good job on carrying out the ordered operation.”

“The media is really a problem. There’s no scrutiny of Ahn Cheol-soo and Moon Jae-in,” read one of the messages posted to cyberspace by a Cyber Command unit member around the same time.

“The Democratic Party’s [predecessor to today’s New Politics Alliance for Democracy] Moon Jae-in is not fit to be commander in chief of the military,” read another.

“I think this is going to have to be a life-or-death election. We can see the pro-North Korean forces right in front of us. Moon Jae-in says the Democratic Party shares the same values as the Unified Progressive Party [the now disbanded left-wing party],” said a third.

The names of specific politicians were also mentioned at the situation meeting by the psychological warfare division, including Moon, Ahn, former Prime Minister and NPAD lawmaker Han Myeong-sook, UPP members Lee Jung-hee and Lee Seok-ki, and NPAD lawmaker Kim Jae-yeon. Yeon, who received reports on them, explained that orders had been given to “blank out the names of the parties and individuals rather than listing their full names.” The evidence conflicts with Yeon’s own account claiming that there were no orders for or involvement in political interference.

Evidence and testimony that Lee effectively ordered the division to interference in the election were included in a report drafted by military prosecutors for division member and victim accounts. The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office and Seoul Eastern District Court proceeded with their trial after acquiring all investigation records for Lee, Yeon, and Ok from the military prosecution team, with the court ultimately finding evidence of conspiracy.

But the evidence of election interference was absent from the general military court’s first trial ruling for Yeon and Ok. The absence lends weight to critics’ charges that military prosecutors and the military court deliberately ignored it in order to deliver a softer sentence. The military court eventually handed down a suspended sentence on Yeon and a deferred sentence - essentially an exoneration - on Ok.

In terms of content and structure, the civilian court’s guilty ruling against Lee is nearly identical to the one handed down on former National Intelligence Service director Won Sei-hoon, who was taken into court custody in February after Seoul High Court found him guilty of violating the Public Official Election Act for his agency’s interference in the 2012 election. Both courts concluded that the Cyber Command’s psychological warfare activities “interfered in and distorted the public’s formation of political opinions” and “infringed upon the opportunity for free and equal competition given to political parties and politicians to guarantee a rational political choice to the public.”

Both courts also said that “the activities, while presented as having the aim of protecting liberal democracy, actually compromised core values of liberal democracy.”

By Park Tae-woo, staff reporter

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