Alleged illegal assistance with Lee Jae Myung’s defense pledges for the presidential election; former KIDA chief acquitted at first trial

[Financial News] Ahead of the 20th presidential election, Kim Yoon-tae, former president of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA), was acquitted at his first trial after being indicted on suspicion of helping develop defense-sector pledges for Lee Jae Myung, then a candidate for the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). A former professor at Korea National Defense University and the former deputy director of the Sejong Institute, who were tried alongside him, were found guilty of violating the Public Official Election Act and sentenced to prison terms, suspended, and fined, respectively.
According to legal circles on the 5th, the 13th Criminal Division of the Seoul Northern District Court, presided over by Judge Sanghoon Na, found former director Kim not guilty of violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act. The court also acquitted three KIDA researchers—those surnamed Bu, Park, and Ahn—who had been indicted on the same charge.
By contrast, former Korea National Defense University professor Noh, who was indicted on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act and the State Public Officials Act, was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, for violating the election law. For violating the State Public Officials Act, the court sentenced the former professor to six months in prison, suspended for one year, and suspended the professor’s qualifications for one year. Kim Jeong-seop, former deputy director of the Sejong Institute, who was indicted on suspicion of conspiring with Professor Noh to help develop the pledges, was fined 7 million won.
Ahead of the 2022 presidential election, former director Kim was indicted without detention in January last year on suspicion of helping develop defense-sector pledges for candidate Lee at the request of the former deputy director, who was then vice chair of the Defense Policy Special Committee of the DPK’s Central Election Management Committee.
Professor Noh was accused of joining a political party and political organizations while serving as a public official in a specific-service position, and of taking part in developing Lee’s defense-sector pledges. The former deputy director was tried on suspicion of pursuing pledge development together with Professor Noh.
The court found it difficult to regard the actions of former director Kim and the others as the performance of official duties in response to an improper solicitation prohibited by the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act. The court’s reasoning was that although advice by KIDA employees on developing pledges for a particular political party or candidate could not be considered a lawful service in line with the institute’s founding purpose, it also did not constitute the provision of services by a public institution as defined by the Act.
The court explained, “It is difficult to assess advice by KIDA employees on developing pledges for a particular political party or candidate as a lawful service constituting a core business in line with the purpose for which KIDA was established,” but added, “It is difficult to view it as a service produced, supplied, or managed by a public institution as defined under the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.”
The court continued, “It is difficult to view the provision of advice related to developing defense-sector pledges as falling within the scope of transactions contemplated by ordinary business practices,” and stated, “The evidence submitted by the prosecutor is insufficient to establish a violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.”
The court did not separately rule on whether former director Kim and the others violated the Public Official Election Act. They were not indicted on that charge because the statute of limitations had expired, so it was not among the matters before the court in this trial.
The court found Professor Noh and former deputy director Kim guilty of violating the Public Official Election Act. It found that Professor Noh took part in a Telegram group chat discussing the development of Lee’s defense-sector pledges and wrote five documents, whose contents were reflected in the candidate’s actual pledges.
The court placed particular emphasis on the fact that Professor Noh had worked as a professor at Korea National Defense University for about 16 years, overseeing education and research in the defense sector. The court found that the professor had used a position as a public official to engage in conduct that affected the election.
The court also found former deputy director Kim to be an accomplice, considering that the former deputy director had Professor Noh join the group chat while at least tacitly aware of the professor’s status as a public official and duty not to engage in election activities, led the pledge development, and delivered the resulting materials to the election organization.
The court rebuked Professor Noh, saying, “The former professor misused for private purposes public assets entrusted in the capacity of a servant of the entire public,” and “grossly violated the duty of political neutrality.”
Earlier, in January 2024, the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) announced the findings of an audit that KIDA had improperly helped develop defense-sector pledges for candidate Lee ahead of the 20th presidential election, and referred the matter to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office for investigation.
At the closing hearing held last July, prosecutors asked the court to sentence former director Kim and former deputy director Kim to one year in prison each, and Professor Noh to one year and six months in prison.

[email protected] Seo Ji-yoon Reporter