Former Minister Kim Eun-kyung of the Ministry of Environment 'Blacklist'... Supreme Court Final Decision on the 27th

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Supreme Court's ruling on former Environment Minister Kim Eun-kyung, who was sentenced to two years in prison in the appellate court for involvement in the 'Ministry of Environment Blacklist,' will be delivered.

According to the legal community on the 20th, the Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Ahn Cheol-sang) will hold the final appeal hearing on the 27th for former Minister Kim and former Blue House Balanced Personnel Secretary Shin Mi-sook, who were indicted on charges including abuse of authority and obstruction of rights.

Former Minister Kim was prosecuted for allegedly instructing public officials under the Ministry of Environment, along with former Secretary Shin, from July 2017 to November 2018, to submit resignations of executives of affiliated public institutions appointed by the previous administration. They also placed individuals favored by the Blue House or the Ministry of Environment in the vacant successor positions.

The first trial court recognized a substantial part of their charges as guilty, sentencing former Minister Kim to two years and six months in prison, and former Secretary Shin to one year and six months in prison with a three-year probation.

The sentence was reduced in the second trial. The appellate court did not consider the resignation of eight executives of public institutions under the Ministry of Environment as acts directed by former Minister Kim. It was judged that those executives resigned due to reasons such as the expiration of their terms. However, the court found former Minister Kim guilty of abuse of authority for ordering a targeted audit of Kim, a standing auditor at the Korea Environment Corporation, who had not submitted a resignation, and that Kim actually submitted his resignation because of this.

Accordingly, the appellate court sentenced former Minister Kim to two years in prison, reduced from the first trial. Former Secretary Shin received a reduced sentence of one year in prison with a three-year probation, considering that she could not have independently finalized and supported the nominees.