Supreme Court Upholds Roh Sang-won's Two-Year Prison Sentence... First Guilty Verdict in Martial Law Case

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\r\n[The Financial News] The Supreme Court of Korea has finalized a two-year prison sentence for former Commander of the Defense Intelligence Command Roh Sang-won, who was accused of obtaining agent information in an effort to form a "2nd Investigation Division" to probe allegations of election fraud during the illegal December 3 Martial Law declaration.
\r\nThe Second Division of the Supreme Court of Korea, led by Justice Park Young-jae, dismissed Roh's appeal in a ruling on charges of violating the Personal Information Protection Act and taking brokerage fees under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. It upheld the lower court's ruling, which found him guilty on all counts. This is the Supreme Court's first decision directly related to the December 3 Martial Law case.
Roh was indicted by the Special Prosecutor's Team for Insurrection, led by Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-seok, on charges that he received the personal information of agents, which constitutes military secrets, from former Commander of the Defense Intelligence Command Sang-ho Moon and others in November 2024 to organize the "2nd Investigation Division." At the time, Roh was a civilian, having been dismissed from the military in March 2019.
He is also widely known for the so-called "Lotteeria meeting," which took place around 2:40 p.m. on Dec. 3, about eight hours before martial law was declared, at a Lotteeria store in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, where Roh met with military officials and confirmed tasks for carrying out the martial law plan.
Roh is also accused of receiving 15 million won in cash and 6 million won worth of department store gift certificates from Colonel Kim in August and September 2024 in exchange for helping him get promoted to brigadier general. He is further accused of taking 5 million won in cash from former Commander of the 2nd Armored Brigade, Republic of Korea Army, Gu Sam-hoe, under the pretext of handling a personnel request.
The trial court sentenced him to two years in prison and ordered the forfeiture of 24.9 million won. Both Roh and prosecutors appealed, but the appellate court rejected both appeals. After the second trial, only the defendant appealed to the Supreme Court of Korea, which dismissed the appeal and finalized the lower court's ruling.
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hwlee@fnnews.com Lee Hwan-ju Reporter