Supreme Court Finds Kim Tae-hyo, the Incumbent First Deputy Director of National Security, Guilty of Leaking Military Secrets

Former Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, in court for having the Cyber Command intervene in politics. February 21, 2019. Yonhap News

Kim Tae-hyo, who was in charge of international strategy planning at Cheongwadae in the Lee Myung-bak government, was found guilty of leaking military secrets. Kim is currently serving as the first deputy director of national security in the Office of the President. Kim Kwan-jin (73), former minister of national defense, who was prosecuted for ordering the Cyber Command to manipulate public opinion, will be tried in court once again. The Supreme Court decided there was a need to review some of the allegations that were recognized in the first trial.

On October 27, the Small Bench 2 of the Supreme Court (chief justice Cho Jae-youn) overturned a decision by the lower court, which sentenced former Minister Kim Kwan-jin to two years and four months in prison for intervening in politics and abusing his authority to interrupt the exercise of rights according to the Military Criminal Act, and sent the case back to the Seoul High Court. The Supreme Court agreed with the initial ruling that Kim was guilty of interfering in politics, but it believed Kim was innocent when it came to his alleged misfeasance, attempting to have investigators drop an investigation on the manipulation of public opinion.

Kim Kwan-jin was charged for conspiring with Kim Tae-hyo and Lim Kwan-bin, former director of policy at the defense ministry, at the time of the parliamentary elections and presidential election in 2012, to get the Cyber Command agents post over 9,000 comments on the Internet condemning the opposition and supporting the government and ruling party. He was also prosecuted for checking the political tendencies of candidates and excluding people from particular a region when hiring new civilian employees in the Cyber Command in May 2012.

Kim was also accused of ordering Baek Nak-jong, head of the investigation headquarters in the defense ministry at the time, to reduce the scope of the investigation into the online comments from December 2013 until April the following year, and of having a unit member, who said he received orders to intervene in the presidential election, change his statement (abusing one’s authority to interrupt the exercise of rights). The former defense minister is also believed to have ordered his staff to transfer the head of Unit 530, which engaged in psychological warfare at the Cyber Command, without detaining him at the time.

In the first trial, Minister Kim was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. The court saw him guilty of intervening in politics, but not guilty of misfeasance when recruiting civilian employees. In the second trial, the judges decided that Kim was also innocent of abusing his authority and interfering with the exercise of rights in connection to the announcement of the interim investigation results on the Cyber Command’s intervention in politics in 2013. Kim’s sentence was reduced to two years and four months.

In addition, the Supreme Court judged that there was an error in the first decision, which found Kim guilty of ordering the head of Unit 530 be transferred but not under arrest (misfeasance) and instructed the court to re-examine the case. The Supreme Court announced, “Kim’s instruction to Baek, former head of the investigation headquarters, to transfer the head of Unit 530 without detaining him was an act that was within his authority. He had the discretion to make the decision within the scope permitted by law,” and concluded, “It cannot be seen as illegal.”

However, the Supreme Court finalized the sentence for former director of policy Lim, who was tried alongside Kim, to a year and a half of imprisonment with a three-year stay of execution. The Supreme Court also confirmed the initial court decision concerning Kim Tae-hyo--a fine of three million won with a stay of execution. The court found Kim guilty of leaking a confidential military document. Kim was appointed the first deputy director of national security in the Yoon Suk-yeol government ahead of the Supreme Court’s final decision.