(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Young-seop = In the retrial of the late composer Yoon I-sang (1917-1995), who was involved in the 'Dongbaekrim (East Berlin) Incident' and was imprisoned, the Public Prosecutor's Office requested a prison sentence, saying that he should be considered guilty on some charges.
Isang Yoon's family pleaded not guilty, criticizing that "this was a planned case from the beginning, but the prosecution (Public Prosecution Office) still denies state violence."
The Public Prosecution Office requested that Yoon Isang be sentenced to three years in prison and three years of suspension at a hearing held on the 10th at the 5th Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Kim Yong-seok) to determine the retrial of the case on charges of violating the National Security Act.
The Public Prosecution Office argued, "Even after a thorough review of the co-defendants' records, no claims related to torture or ill-treatment were made during the trial," and added, "Even if there is a retrial, the admissibility of the original evidence cannot be denied."
He added, "The defendant received a large amount of money (from North Korea) and visited Pyongyang without government permission to receive espionage training," adding, "He committed the crime even though he knew it was an act of betrayal."
In the final argument, the representative of Yun Isang's family said, "The defendant went to study in Europe to pursue music and was just beginning to gain fame when he was kidnapped and taken into custody by the Central Intelligence Agency and detained for 14 days for interrogation. I think what the Public Prosecution Office said was based on information recognized from the defendant's statement while he was detained."
He then criticized, "The Dongbaekrim incident is a case of state violence by the Park Chung-hee regime that is known globally. It was planned from the beginning and even though the Blue House at the time led the ruling, the prosecution is still denying it," and added, "If even some of the evidence submitted in this case is recognized as capable, it means that our criminal procedures are still not free from dictatorship."
The court noted that Isang Yoon was originally sentenced to 10 years in prison and 10 years of suspension of qualifications and was released through a special pardon while serving the sentence, and said, "Even if he is theoretically guilty, I think it would be difficult to sentence him to prison."
The sentencing will take place at 3pm on December 24th.
The Dongbaekrim Incident was an incident in 1967 in which the Korean Central Intelligence Agency announced that 194 people, including international students and Korean residents in Europe, had been engaging in espionage activities by visiting the North Korean embassy in East Berlin.
Isang Yoon, who was active in Germany at the time, was transported to Korea and sentenced to 10 years in prison, where he served two years. The court found him not guilty on the charge of espionage and guilty on the charge of violating the National Security Act.
In 2006, the National Intelligence Service's Development Committee for Finding the Truth in Past Incidents concluded that the Park Chung-hee regime expanded and exaggerated the Dongbaekrim incident into a 'large-scale espionage case' for political purposes.
According to the committee's investigation, on June 17, 1967, Central Intelligence Agency employees dispatched to Germany lured Isang Yoon to the Korean Embassy with the lie, "Let's meet to deliver a personal letter from the President."
After being interrogated at the embassy for three days and two nights, Isang Yoon was repatriated to Korea and immediately detained by the Central Intelligence Agency.
In May 2023, three years after the bereaved family requested a retrial, the Seoul High Court decided to initiate a retrial, saying, "There is grounds for a retrial in cases where a prosecutor or judicial police officer commits a crime related to his or her duties."
The Public Prosecution Office immediately appealed, saying, "It was not clearly proven that the judicial police officer committed a crime in the line of duty, such as illegally detaining Isang Yoon," but the Supreme Court did not accept it, so the retrial was finalized.
