Supreme Court Narrows Interpretation of 'Abuse of Authority'... Kim Ki-chun and Others in 'Cultural Blacklist' Case Remanded (Comprehensive Report 2)

Inevitable Impact on Jo Guk, Park Geun-hye, Yang Seung-tae, and Others Accused of Abuse of Power

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The Supreme Court's full bench has narrowly recognized the charge of 'abuse of authority' against former Presidential Chief of Staff Kim Ki-chun and former Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Cho Yoon-sun, who were indicted in the so-called 'blacklist' case during the Park Geun-hye administration, where certain cultural and artistic figures were excluded from support, and has sent the case back for a retrial in the second trial.

On the 30th, the Supreme Court's full bench ruled that there were legal errors and insufficient examination in the second trial's judgment on the appeal case involving Kim and others for abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights, and sent the case back to the Seoul High Court with a verdict of not guilty.

This appears to be a judgment to narrow the scope of the abuse of authority crime, which has been a contentious issue. The abuse of authority crime, stipulated in Article 123 of the Criminal Act, is established when a public official abuses their authority to make a person perform an unnecessary act or obstruct a person's exercise of rights. The Supreme Court emphasized the need for a stricter judgment on the 'unnecessary act' part. Accordingly, it stated that the acts committed by former Chief of Staff Kim and others should be individually judged as to whether they were 'unnecessary acts' and judged differently for each. The full bench's ruling implies that the second trial did not do so.

The full bench first stated, "The defendants' instruction to exclude support to employees of the Arts Council Korea, the Korean Film Council, and the Korea Publication Promotion Agency through Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism officials constitutes an abuse of authority in collusion with former President Park Geun-hye, abusing the authority of the President, Chief of Staff, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs, Senior Secretary for Education and Culture, and Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism."

Accordingly, "Regarding the acts of employees belonging to the Korea Arts Council, Korean Film Council, and Korea Publication Culture Industry Promotion Agency that exceeded the scope of duties prescribed by law or violated legal obligations, the original court's guilty judgment recognizing these as 'making a person perform an unnecessary act' is not mistaken," it said.

However, "Regarding the acts of sending various lists and the acts of reporting the progress of reviews during the public project process, the original court's guilty judgment recognizing these as 'making a person perform an unnecessary act' contains legal errors and insufficient examination," it said. "The court should have examined whether these acts of sending lists and reporting review progress differ from previous acts and judged whether they constitute 'making a person perform an unnecessary act' by reviewing violations of laws and regulations," it added.

The original court's judgment was upheld for the charges of coercion and violation of the National Assembly's testimony and inspection law, confirming the guilty verdict.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This ruling is expected to have repercussions on major cases where abuse of authority charges were applied, such as the so-called 'judicial farming' and 'state farming' scandals. The Supreme Court's full bench is known to have thoroughly examined the case considering this. It is also expected to influence the trials of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk and others, who were indicted on the same charges related to the recent 'Yoo Jae-soo supervision cover-up' scandal.

Former Minister Cho was indicted without detention on charges of covering up the supervision of Yoo Jae-soo, former Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of Busan City, despite confirming serious misconduct during his time as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House in 2017. The same charge was applied to former President Park Geun-hye, indicted in the state farming case, and former Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae in the judicial administration abuse case.

Meanwhile, former Chief of Staff Kim was tried on charges of creating and ordering the execution of a 'blacklist' excluding support for certain individuals and organizations during the Park Geun-hye administration. He is also charged with conspiring with former Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Kim Jong-deok and others to force senior officials in the department to resign. Former Minister Cho is accused of selecting blacklist targets for exclusion from literary fund support and notifying the Senior Secretary for Education and Culture during his tenure as Senior Secretary for Political Affairs.

Both the first and second trials recognized the abuse of authority charges against former Chief of Staff Kim and others. The first trial sentenced Kim to three years in prison and Cho to one year in prison with two years of probation. The second trial found the coercion charge, which was acquitted in the first trial, guilty and increased Kim's sentence to four years in prison. Cho was also sentenced to two years in prison.