Former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, who was indicted on charges of taking part in insurrection during the Dec. 3 emergency martial law declaration, was sentenced to nine years in prison by an appeals court. The sentence was sharply reduced from 25 years handed down in the first trial after some charges found guilty earlier were overturned.
The Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 1, presided over by Senior Judge Yoon Sung-sik, sentenced Park to nine years in prison on the 21st on charges of playing a key role in insurrection and abuse of authority to obstruct the exercise of rights.
While the appeals court held Park responsible for his involvement in the emergency martial law declaration, it found him not guilty on some abuse-of-authority charges. The court overturned a conviction on the charge that he had instructed the head of the prosecution division at the Justice Ministry's Prosecution Bureau to cooperate with a request from the martial law command's joint investigation headquarters to dispatch personnel. The court also declined to treat as abuse of authority his instructions to review capacity at correctional facilities and to have staff in charge of travel bans report for duty. It likewise found him not guilty on the charge of ordering the drafting of what has been called the "abuse of authority document," which contained arguments justifying the martial law declaration, immediately after it was lifted.
"It is difficult to conclude that he conspired in advance with former President Yoon Suk-yeol and former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun on the emergency martial law declaration," the court said. "Having staff in charge of travel bans stand by for duty and reviewing capacity at correctional facilities amounted to no more than preparatory acts, and no actual detentions or similar outcomes occurred."
The court did, however, base its guilty finding on the fact that Park ordered the enforcement of the martial law decree despite recognizing that the emergency martial law declaration was unconstitutional. "Park was well aware that the emergency martial law declaration was unconstitutional," the court said. "He did not clearly express opposition and instead actively participated, including by instructing the head of the Justice Ministry's Korea Immigration Service and the head of its Correctional Service on steps needed to enforce the decree."
Separately, the appeals court overturned the lower court's dismissal of the indictment against former Minister of Government Legislation Lee Wan-kyu, who was charged with perjury for describing a gathering at the presidential safe house in Samcheong-dong the day after the martial law declaration as a "social get-together," and remanded the case to the Seoul Central District Court.