Former PSS chief Park Jong-jun acquitted in first trial over deletion of Yoon, Hong Jang-won secure phone data..."Should be seen as a security measure"

[Financial News] Former PSS chief Park Jong-jun was acquitted in the first trial on the charge of deleting secure phone data. The court said Park's actions were security measures carried out in accordance with the manual, not an attempt to destroy evidence.
The 32nd Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Chief Judge Ryu Kyung-jin, held the sentencing hearing on Park's evidence-destruction charge and handed down a not-guilty verdict.
The bench stated, "There is no proof of a crime regarding the charges in this case, so we render a not-guilty verdict."
Park was accused of remotely deleting secure phone call records involving former President Yoon Suk Yeol, former NIS First Deputy Director Hong Jang-won, and former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Kim Bong-sik on December 6, 2024, after the December 3 martial law declaration, in an alleged attempt to destroy evidence related to insurrection.
The court found it difficult to apply evidence-destruction charges separately to the deletion of records linked to Kim and to the secure phone data involving Yoon and Hong.
Regarding Park's instruction, through an aide, to request that Kim return his secure phone, the court said, "The circumstances of the return were unusual, but it is difficult to conclude that the submission method itself was abnormal." It also said Park had only arranged for the secure phones to be collected and could not be said to have ordered the deletion of records.
The court viewed the disclosure in the media of Hong's secure phone screen, including his ID, as a "security incident." It said Park's report to former NIS Director Cho Tae-yong, based on a staff member's briefing at the time, and the subsequent response could not be regarded as evidence destruction.
The bench noted, "Among the security measures reviewed by the PSS at the time, deleting user accounts for secure phones was the most effective option." It added, "One cannot hastily infer intent to destroy evidence merely because, in hindsight, the measure was insufficient or a better method may have existed." The court also cited as a basis for acquittal the fact that Park did not cooperate with PSS Deputy Chief Kim Seong-hoon’s request to delete the secure phone data of military commanders.

scottchoi15@fnnews.com Choi Eun-sol Reporter