The appeal trial of Son Junsung, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Daegu High Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor), who was indicted on charges related to the so-called 'Gobalsaju' suspicion and sentenced to imprisonment in the first trial, began on the 17th. Son's side requested the court to summon Lim Hongseok, a prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, as a witness; Lim had refused to testify when he appeared as a witness in the first trial. The court indicated that additional witness examinations of Kim Woong, a member of the People Power Party, and Cho Seongeun, the whistleblower in this case, might be necessary.
At the first hearing of Son's case on charges including violation of the Public Official Election Act, held under the Criminal Division 6-1 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Jeong Jae-o, Choi Eun-jeong, Lee Yesul), Son's side claimed, "There is absolutely no fact that he wrote the complaint," and argued that "the first trial court misinterpreted the facts and made illogical leaps." On the other hand, the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (HOCI) prosecutor countered, saying, "The sentence in the first trial was excessively light."
Son's defense attorney stated, "It is questionable whether Son can be considered to have written the complaint based solely on the circumstantial evidence submitted by the HOCI prosecutor," and added, "The original court made judgments on the facts through logical leaps."
The defense also said, “Even the HOCI prosecutor said throughout the first trial that it was 'unknown' who wrote the complaint," and added, "The original court acknowledges the possibility of a third party between Son and Representative Kim, but it is the prosecution's burden to prove this, so it is incomprehensible why the defendant should prove it."
Furthermore, the defense argued, "Son claimed that he sent the Telegram message directly to Representative Kim, but there are no records of texts or calls between them," and said, "At the time when such important materials were supposedly exchanged, not a single call or text was made, so it is unacceptable to believe that important content was sent."
The HOCI prosecutor argued against the first trial's acquittal on the charge of violating the Public Official Election Act, stating, "The fact that Son delivered materials to Cho Seongeun through Representative Kim itself constitutes the commencement of an act influencing the election." The prosecutor also claimed that the one-year imprisonment sentence handed down in the first trial was too light.
The court stated, "To determine whether a 'third party' was involved, it seems necessary to summon Representative Kim and Ms. Cho again as witnesses in the second trial for examination."
On this day, Son's side requested the court to summon Prosecutor Lim as a witness. Lim was a prosecutor who worked as a researcher at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Investigation Information Policy Division when Son served as the head of that division. Lim was investigated along with Son regarding the 'Gobalsaju' suspicion but was cleared due to insufficient evidence.
Lim appeared as a witness in the first trial but refused to testify during cross-examinations by both the HOCI and Son's side. Regarding Son's request, the court expressed doubts about whether Lim's testimony, which was refused in the first trial, could be trusted in the appeal trial.
In response, Son's defense attorney said, "Lim refused to testify thinking that the first trial would result in acquittal, but there may be a change of heart after the first trial's guilty verdict against Son." However, the court pointed out, "If Lim refused to testify because acquittal seemed likely in the first trial, and now intends to testify to create an acquittal because a guilty verdict was reached, that would be an overly arbitrary interpretation of judicial procedures."
The Gobalsaju suspicion involves allegations that the prosecution, ahead of the April 2020 general election, instructed the opposition party to file complaints against former Open Democratic Party proportional representative candidate Choi Kangwook and pro-government figures such as Yoo Si-min, then chairman of the Roh Moo-hyun Foundation.
The first trial court acquitted Son on the charge of violating the Public Official Election Act, reasoning that merely drafting and delivering the complaint draft did not pose a risk of influencing the election results. However, it found him guilty of leaking official secrets and violating the Personal Information Protection Act, sentencing him to one year in prison.
Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court, which is reviewing the impeachment petition against Son, decided on the 3rd to suspend the trial procedure, citing that a criminal trial is ongoing for the same reasons as the impeachment grounds.
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