Woo Byung-woo, former Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House, who was acquitted by the Supreme Court on some charges of obstructing the work of the president’s special inspector and failing to prevent the Park Geun-hye administration’s ‘state affairs manipulation,’ will receive criminal compensation of 18.49 million won.
Woo Byung-woo, former Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House. [Image source=Yonhap News]
According to the court gazette on the 9th, the Criminal Division 10 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Nam Seong-min, Song Oh-seop, Kim Seon-ah) decided on December 27 last year to pay Woo 8.72 million won as detention compensation and 9.77 million won as expense compensation. Criminal compensation is a system where the state compensates defendants for costs incurred due to detention or trial when they are acquitted.
Woo was appointed Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs in 2015 but came under prosecution investigation the following year on charges including obstructing Special Inspector Lee Seok-soo’s inspection of him. Subsequently, as suspicions of the Park Geun-hye administration’s state affairs manipulation arose, he became a key suspect and major investigation target. He was indicted without detention and faced trial for the state affairs manipulation case, but in December 2017, he was detained on charges of conducting illegal surveillance on public officials and civilians using the National Intelligence Service.
The court recognized most charges as guilty in the first trial and sentenced him to a total of four years in prison. However, in the appellate trial, only part of the illegal surveillance charges were upheld, reducing the sentence to one year in prison.
The appellate court acquitted Woo on charges that he was aware of the misconduct of former Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs Ahn Jong-beom and ‘shadow power’ Choi Seo-won (formerly Choi Soon-sil) but abandoned his inspection duties and participated in covering up the truth. It also ruled not guilty on charges of failing to appear as a witness without justifiable reason at the National Assembly’s state audit in October 2016 and illegally surveilling progressive-leaning education superintendents through the National Intelligence Service.
Woo was released after 384 days in detention in January 2019 due to the expiration of the detention period while undergoing the appellate trial. In September 2021, the Supreme Court dismissed both Woo’s and the prosecution’s appeals, confirming the appellate court’s ruling as final. The detention period during investigation and trial was longer than the final sentence imposed.
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