Prosecution Team on Cho Kuk Case: "Jung Kyung-shim's 4-Year Prison Sentence Confirmed, a Result in Line with Justice and Common Sense"

Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon is appearing as a witness at the trial related to the assault involving Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jeong Jin-woong of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office, held on the 21st at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Prosecutors who investigated the family of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk issued a statement after the Supreme Court's final ruling on former Dongyang University professor Jeong Gyeong-sim, saying, "Since August 2019 until today, it has been slow and difficult, but ultimately a result aligned with justice and common sense has come out."

Han Dong-hoon, Deputy Director of the Judicial Research and Training Institute who led the investigation as head of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Anti-Corruption and Strong Crime Division, released the investigation team's statement immediately after the verdict on the 27th.

Chief Prosecutor Han said, "There is only one truth in this case, and there is still a way to go to achieve results corresponding to each person's guilt," adding, "The investigation team, including myself, will do our best until the end."

On the same day, the Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Cheon Dae-yeop) upheld the original sentence that sentenced former professor Jeong to 4 years in prison, recognizing her guilt on charges including obstruction of business, violations of the Capital Markets Act and the Act on Real Name Financial Transactions and Confidentiality, fraud, violation of the Subsidy Management Act, and instigation of evidence destruction and concealment. This came about two years and five months after the prosecution began a forced investigation in August 2019. Notably, the court also recognized the evidentiary validity of the Dongyang University PC, which the defense had contested, just as in the first and second trials.

Former professor Jeong was charged with 15 offenses, including forging her daughter Cho Min's Dongyang University certificate and exerting undue pressure during the admission process. The prosecution began a forced investigation in August 2019, indicted her for certificate forgery a month later, and investigated suspicions that she and others used undisclosed information related to the secondary battery company WFM for financial gain, leading to an additional indictment on 14 charges in November of the same year.

The first trial recognized most of the 15 charges as guilty and sentenced her to 4 years in prison, a fine of 500 million KRW, and a confiscation of approximately 140 million KRW. The second trial also found all charges related to her children's admission fraud (including obstruction of business) guilty and maintained the 4-year prison sentence as in the first trial. However, some charges related to the use of undisclosed information from the secondary battery company WFM (violation of the Capital Markets Act) were overturned as not guilty, reducing the fine and confiscation to 50 million KRW and approximately 10 million KRW, respectively.