Former Presidential Chief of Staff Kim Ki-chun will receive criminal compensation related to the 'Sewol Ferry report time manipulation' allegations for which he was acquitted.
According to the legal community on the 11th, the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 11-2 (Presiding Judges Kim Young-hoon, Kim Jae-ryeong, Song Hye-jung) decided on the 6th to pay Kim 7,071,000 KRW as compensation. This is based on the 'criminal compensation' system, which allows acquitted defendants to claim compensation from the state for damages caused by detention or trial.
Kim was indicted on charges of manipulating the time when former President Park Geun-hye received reports on the day of the Sewol Ferry disaster. The first and second trials recognized that the written response Kim submitted to the National Assembly was a false official document and sentenced him to one year in prison with a two-year probation.
However, in August 2022, the Supreme Court overturned the case with a not guilty verdict and remanded it to the Seoul High Court. Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, the retrial court acquitted Kim. In June of last year, the Supreme Court dismissed the prosecution’s appeal, finalizing Kim’s acquittal.
Kim was also indicted on charges of ordering the creation of a blacklist document listing groups and artists critical of the government and reasons for excluding them from support, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison. However, he was pardoned in February, exempted from the remaining sentence, and reinstated.
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