Supreme Court upholds conviction of Blue House staff in Defense Security Command online comment operation under Lee Myung-bak

[Financial News] The Supreme Court of Korea has finalized a lower court ruling that found two staff members of the Cabinet of Lee Myung-bak guilty of abusing their authority by mobilizing Defense Security Command personnel to manipulate online public opinion.
According to the legal community on the 26th, the First Petty Bench of the Supreme Court of Korea, presided over by Tae-ak Rho, Justice of the Supreme Court of Korea, dismissed the appeals and upheld the lower court’s decision against two former Presidential Secretaries for New Media, who were indicted on charges of abuse of authority by obstructing the exercise of rights.
The two were brought to trial on charges of conspiring with the then Commander of the Defense Security Command between July 2011 and February 2013, during the Lee Myung-bak administration, to instruct members of an internal online comment unit within the Defense Security Command to post politically oriented content on the internet.
They were accused of disguising Defense Security Command personnel as ordinary citizens and directing them to post messages supporting the president and the government on Twitter and other social networking service (SNS) platforms, as well as publishing web magazines that appeared to be issued by private organizations in an attempt to sway public opinion. They also faced charges for sending transcripts and summaries of the internet podcast "Naneun Ggomsuda" to the office of the Presidential Secretary for New Media at Cheong Wa Dae, also known as the Blue House, for reporting purposes.
In the first trial, the court found part of the charges proven and sentenced former secretary Kim to one year in prison, suspended for two years, and the other former secretary Lee to one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years. The appellate court dismissed their appeals and upheld the first-instance judgment.
The Supreme Court of Korea rejected the appeals filed by both the defendants and the prosecutors and confirmed the lower court’s ruling. The bench stated, "There is no misunderstanding of the legal principles regarding the conspiracy in the offenses and the abuse of authority."

hwlee@fnnews.com Lee Hwan-joo Reporter