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Liberty Free Korea party leader Hong Joon-pyo is in high spirits as he enters the chairman’s office of the party headquarters following his acquittal in the “Sung Wan-jong” list scandal. On the right is Kim Dae-shik

On Dec. 22, South Korea’s Supreme Court upheld an appellate court’s acquittal of Hong Joon-pyo, leader of the Liberty Korea Party, who had been charged with receiving illegal political funds (a violation of the Political Funds Act) from the late Sung Wan-jong, former head of Keangnam Enterprises. Combined with the acquittal of former Prime Minister Lee Wan-koo, who had been facing the same charges, this means that not a single politician who appeared on the “Sung Wan-jong list” written by Sung, a former lawmaker with the Saenuri Party (currently the Liberty Korea Party), before he committed suicide in Apr. 2015, has been punished.

With this obstacle removed, Hong is in high spirits, promising to dedicate himself to working with the conservative right wing, while Lee is expected to attempt a political comeback by running in the local elections scheduled for June 13, 2018.

On the afternoon of Dec. 22, the third panel of the Supreme Court (with Hon. Kim Chang-suk presiding) upheld the decision of the appeals court that had acquitted Hong. This overturned the ruling of a district court that had convicted Hong and sentenced him to one year and six months in prison and a fine of 100 million won (US$92,800).

“The appeals court was correct in its decision that the charges were not adequately proven by the evidence submitted by the prosecutors,” the Supreme Court said in its ruling. Hong had been put on trial in July 2015 on charges of having received 100 million won from one of Sung’s aides in an office at the National Assembly in June 2011, prior to the primary for leadership of the Grand National Party (the forerunner of the Saenuri Party).

“Since I have been freed from these slanders and shackles, I will now give my all to defending the Republic of Korea with South Korea’s conservative right wing,” Hong said during a press conference that was held after his acquittal.

Hong, who has attacked the prosecutors under the Moon Jae-in administration as “government curs,” said he would “make sure the prosecutors who fabricated evidence during the investigation and the trial would get justice.” The head of the special investigation into the Sung Wan-jong list was Moon Moo-il, who is South Korea’s current prosecutor-general. Hong did say that he does not believe that Prosecutor-General Moon was involved in the fabrication of evidence.

The third division of the Supreme Court (with Hon. Kim Jae-hyung presiding), which was charged with Lee’s trial, also upheld an appellate court’s ruling that a recording of Sung’s phone call to the Kyunghyang Shinmun shortly before his death and the note listing the names of politicians to which he had allegedly given money were not sufficient evidence to convict Lee.

Along with Hong, Lee had been indicted on the charge of receiving a shopping bag filled with 30 million won (US$28,000) in cash from Sung, who had visited the election office in Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province, at the time of the by-election in Apr. 2013. The district court had convicted Lee on the charges and sentenced him to eight months in prison suspended for two years and a fine of 30 million won, but his conviction was overturned on appeal.

“I said I would put my life on the line [when I proclaimed my innocence]. I resigned as prime minister, and my patience has been tested during the trial. The prosecutors doctored and destroyed the documentary evidence before the end of the trial,” said Lee in a press conference in front of the Supreme Court, in Seoul’s Seocho neighborhood. Lee is expected to run in the local elections next year or in a by-election for the National Assembly.

“If Lee Wan-koo would like to restore his reputation, the party will help him,” Hong said.

Hong Joon-pyo and Lee Wan-koo were only two of eight politicians who appeared on the Sung Wan-jong list. The others, who were closely aligned with Park Geun-hye, are former presidential chiefs of staff Kim Ki-choon, Lee Byung-kee and Huh Tae-yeol; Liberty Korea lawmaker Hong Mun-jong; Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok; and Busan Mayor Suh Byung-soo. But the prosecutors only brought charges against Hong Joon-pyo and Lee Wan-koo.

By Kim Nam-il, staff reporter

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