Former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae's ruling on charges of engaging in important civil war missions
“When Yoon Seok-yeol was indicted and Myung Tae-gyun was arrested, he was ordered to find out the whereabouts of the ‘golden phone’.”
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporters Lee Young-seop, Kim Bit-na, and Lee Seung-yeon = The court that found former Justice Minister Park Seong-jae guilty of engaging in important civil war duties and sentenced him to heavy punishment appeared to have indicated in the ruling that the prosecution was suspected of participating in the civil war.
There was also a judgment that former President Yoon Seok-yeol ordered former Minister Park to understand the details of the investigation into the 'suspicion of Myung Tae-gyun's interference in the nomination' on the day of martial law declaration.
According to the legal community on the 23rd, the Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Agreement Division 33 (Chief Judge Lee Jin-kwan) wrote in the ruling on the former Minister Park case handed down the previous day, "Although there are additional circumstances that may raise suspicions regarding the prosecution's participation in acts of rebellion, it appears that no investigation has been conducted by special prosecutors."
This was mentioned in the part where former Minister Park admitted to the charge that after the declaration of martial law on December 3, 2024, he instructed then Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung to cooperate with the request to dispatch prosecutors from the Martial Law Command Joint Investigation Headquarters.
In the ruling, the court stated that after former Minister Park called former Prosecutor General Shim around 11 p.m. on the same day after martial law was declared, the calls were made one after another in the following order: former Prosecutor General Shim → Chief of the Public Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office → Chief of the Public Security Investigation Support Department of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Public Investigation Department → Chief of the Public Criminal Investigation Department of the Ministry of Justice.
It was also pointed out that former Prosecutor General Shim made a statement during the investigation by the special prosecutor Cho Eun-seok on the civil war, saying, "I asked the head of the Public Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office that in cases such as serious crime trials, jurisdiction is transferred to the military court, but what happens if martial law is not lifted."
Based on this, it was judged that "it is reasonable to believe that defendant Park Seong-jae mentioned matters regarding the effect of the declaration of martial law to Shim Woo-jung, which led Shim Woo-jung to give related instructions to the head of the Supreme Prosecutor's Office's Public Investigation Department."
In addition, it was stated that "the effect of the declaration of martial law includes the authority of the martial law commander to request the dispatch of public officials from administrative and judicial agencies, and Shim Woo-jung was briefed on the results of this review at the time."
At this point, the court added a footnote to the ruling and revealed the call records of the Suwon High Prosecutors' Office, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, the Suwon District Prosecutors' Seongnam Branch Deputy Chief Prosecutor, and the Supreme Prosecutor's Office's Forensic Investigation Department Chief, and pointed out, "This corresponds to circumstances that could lead to suspicion that the prosecution personnel within the Suwon High Prosecutors' Office were involved in measures taken in response to acts of insurrection."
In addition, it was pointed out that the head of the Supreme Prosecutor's Office's scientific investigation department contacted a landline phone in the name of the Supreme Prosecutor's Office and a person who appeared to be the chief prosecutor of the local prosecutor's office starting at 11:13 p.m., and judged, "Considering that forensic investigators from the Supreme Prosecutor's Office's scientific investigation department provide forensic field support when there is a significant shortage of investigators at the local prosecutor's office, this is suspicious as a communication related to the dispatch of forensic investigators at the local prosecutor's office."
In the process of acknowledging that former Minister Park had awareness of the purpose and illegality of disrupting the national constitution, the court also mentioned former President Yoon's instructions regarding the alleged involvement in Myung Tae-gyun's nomination.
The court explained, "Seok-yeol Yoon initially ordered Park Seong-jae to enter the President's Office by 9 p.m. on December 3, 2024, but after confirming the news about Myung Tae-gyun's arrest and indictment, he called Park Seong-jae at 7:41 p.m. to determine the related facts and ordered him to enter the President's Office as soon as possible."
He then pointed out in a footnote, "Considering that it appears that there were reports at the time that Myung Tae-gyun was arrested and indicted for hiding evidence rather than destroying evidence, there is a suspicion that Yoon Seok-yeol was curious about the whereabouts of the so-called 'Myeong Tae-gyun golden phone' and ordered Park Seong-jae to find out."
At the time, in addition to the charge of violating the political fund law for receiving 'nomination donations,' Mr. Myeong was also charged with concealing evidence by ordering his brother-in-law to hide three mobile phones, including the so-called 'golden phone,' and one portable storage device (USB).
The court also cited former Minister Kim Yong-hyun's statement to the effect that former President Yoon mentioned the Myeong Tae-gyun nomination incident before the declaration of martial law, and decided, "It is reasonable to believe that Yoon Seok-yeol mentioned the Myeong Tae-gyun incident to Park Seong-jae and announced his plan to declare martial law."
The day before, the court found former Minister Park guilty of engaging in important civil war missions and abuse of power, sentenced her to 25 years in prison, and detained her in court.
