The Supreme Court has upheld some guilty verdicts against Yoon Hak-bae, former Vice Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, who was accused of obstructing the activities of the 4·16 Sewol Special Investigation Commission (Sewol Special Commission).
On the 16th, marking the 10th anniversary of the Sewol ferry disaster, the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Oh Kyung-mi) confirmed the original sentence of one year imprisonment with a two-year probation for Yoon, who was charged with abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights. Yoon appealed the ruling after receiving the sentence in the retrial on November 16 last year. However, the court recognized his guilt for ordering Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries officials to prepare documents on the "background and response plan for the establishment of the Special Commission" and for instructing them to monitor the Special Commission's activities.
Yoon Hak-bae, Former Vice Minister of Oceans and Fisheries
Yoon served as the Secretary for Maritime and Fisheries Affairs in the Blue House Economic Secretariat from August 2014 to October 2015 during the Park Geun-hye administration, and as Vice Minister of Oceans and Fisheries from October 2015 to June 2018.
The prosecution indicted Yoon in February 2018 on charges of abusing his authority by conspiring with Cho Yoon-sun, then Senior Secretary for Political Affairs at the Blue House, around January 2015, to have Ministry officials prepare documents that undermined the Special Commission's political neutrality, independence, and objectivity. He was also charged with ordering officials from the Ministry and the Presidential Secretariat to submit daily reports on the Special Commission's activities from February 2015 to July 2016, compelling them to perform duties they were not obligated to do.
In the first trial, the court sentenced Yoon to one year and six months in prison with a two-year probation. The second trial recognized only some of the charges and reduced the sentence to six months in prison with a two-year probation.
However, in April last year, the Supreme Court partially overturned the second trial's ruling, stating that the document preparation by Cho and Yoon constituted abuse of authority, and remanded the case to the Seoul High Court.
In the retrial held in November last year, Yoon was sentenced to one year in prison with a two-year probation. He appealed again, but the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, finding no issues with the lower court's judgment.
Regarding the appeal on the abuse of authority related to monitoring and reporting on the Special Commission's activities, the Supreme Court stated, "Since the guilty verdict has already become final and cannot be disputed further, it does not constitute a valid ground for appeal." It added, "There is no error in the lower court's judgment that found the defendant guilty, nor any violation of logic or the rules of experience, nor any overstepping of the limits of free evaluation of evidence, nor any misinterpretation of the binding effect of the remand judgment, joint perpetration by conspiracy, the establishment of the crime of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights, or the timing of the offense."
Meanwhile, at the time of Yoon's indictment, former Blue House Chief of Staff Lee Byung-ki, former Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Cho Yoon-sun, former Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs Ahn Jong-beom, and former Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Kim Young-seok were also prosecuted. Lee, Ahn, and Kim were acquitted by the Supreme Court. Cho was sentenced to six months in prison with a one-year probation in the retrial, appealed, but withdrew the appeal, and the ruling was finalized in February.
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