The appellate court upheld the suspension of the dismissal of Kim Yoon-tae, former director of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA), who was dismissed for assisting in the formulation of campaign pledges for Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party candidate in the last presidential election.
According to the legal community on the 5th, the Administrative Division 3 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Jung Jun-young, Kim Hyung-jin, Park Young-wook) dismissed the Ministry of National Defense's appeal on the 26th of last month in the appellate trial of Kim's request for suspension of the execution of the dismissal order against the Minister of National Defense. Accordingly, the effect of the dismissal order against former Director Kim will continue to be suspended until the 30th day from the date of the first trial verdict in the main case.
The court stated, "It is recognized that there is an urgent need to suspend the effect to prevent irreparable damage to the applicant," and "on the other hand, it is insufficient to recognize that the suspension of the effect would seriously affect the public welfare."
Earlier, the Board of Audit and Inspection requested the Ministry of National Defense to dismiss Director Kim, alleging that KIDA illegally supported the formulation of campaign pledges for Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party candidate in the 2021 presidential election, and the Ministry of National Defense held a KIDA board meeting in February to approve the dismissal proposal.
Former Director Kim argued that the Ministry of National Defense forcibly proceeded with the dismissal even though his three-year term had already expired, and initiated legal actions such as a lawsuit to nullify the dismissal.
Recently, the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office launched a forced investigation, including raids on Kim and KIDA employees, regarding allegations of campaign pledge support.
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