"Secure Phone Remote Logout" Park Jong-joon Says It Was "Exposed in the National Assembly and Deleted"... Continues to Deny Charges

According to Financial News, former Chief of the Presidential Security Service Park Jong-joon, who has been indicted on charges of remotely logging out a secure phone and deleting information after the December 3 emergency martial law declaration, continued to deny the allegations.
On the 6th, Criminal Division 32 of the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Judge Ryu Kyung-jin, held the first trial for Park on charges of destroying evidence.
Park’s defense argued that the action was merely a security measure, noting that information from former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s secure phone had already been exposed when former First Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service Hong Jang-won appeared before the National Assembly.
Park’s attorney stated, "He only instructed routine processing, such as returning the secure phone, and did not know that call records or other electronic data would be deleted," adding, "The special prosecutor’s inference that there was intent to destroy evidence is nothing more than a subjective, retrospective assessment of the situation from the perspective of the investigative authorities." The attorney went on, "When former deputy director Hong presented the secure phone call log screen at the National Assembly, the ID and call history for former President Yoon’s secure phone were exposed to the media," and added, "The National Intelligence Service official in charge of secure phones called the Presidential Security Service counterpart and said, 'It seems security measures will be necessary, so please check.'"
Park himself explained, "Before the impeachment motion, there had been a serious incident involving the communications security of former President Yoon, and I believed the report that we needed to remove the threat factors and ensure his safety was reasonable."
The court plans to conclude the hearings in April. It announced that the sentencing hearing will be held on April 2.
Park is accused of arbitrarily deleting the secure phone data of former President Yoon, former deputy director Hong, and former Seoul police chief Kim Bong-sik by using a "remote logout" function after the emergency martial law situation.
theknight@fnnews.com Jung Kyung-soo Reporter