Neither Ahn nor Kim Filed an Appeal
The Supreme Court confirmed the prison sentence for former Chungnam Governor Ahn Hee-jung, who was convicted of sexually assaulting his executive secretary, and ruled that Ahn Hee-jung and Chungnam Province must compensate the sexual assault victim Kim Ji-eun with 83,040,000 KRW.
According to the legal community on the 4th, after receiving the judgment documents on the 21st of last month, Ahn, Chungnam Province, and Kim’s side did not file an appeal to the second trial court, the Seoul High Court Civil Division 3-3 (Chief Judge Bae Yong-jun, Judges Kyeon Jong-cheol, Choi Hyun-jong), by this day. In civil trials, if no appeal or further appeal is filed within two weeks from the date of receiving the judgment documents, the judgment becomes final.
The second trial court ruled on the 12th of last month in the appeal trial of the 300 million KRW damages claim lawsuit filed by Kim against Ahn that "the defendant shall pay the plaintiff 83,045,984 KRW." However, the appeal filed by Kim against Chungnam Province was dismissed. Park Won-kyung, the attorney representing Kim, said in a meeting with reporters immediately after the ruling, "I think the recognized amount is generally insufficient, and considering the secondary damage, I think it is even more insufficient," expressing an intention to consider whether to appeal after reviewing the judgment documents, but ultimately did not appeal.
Former Chungnam Governor Ahn Hee-jung, who was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison for sexually assaulting his executive secretary, was released on August 4, 2022, after serving his full term and is leaving Yeoju Prison in Gyeonggi Province with his supporters. Photo by Yonhap News
Ahn was indicted on charges of sexually assaulting and forcibly molesting Kim, his executive secretary, by abusing his authority from July 2017 to February 2018. Subsequently, in September 2019, the Supreme Court confirmed a prison sentence of 3 years and 6 months, and after serving his sentence, he was released in August 2022. According to the Public Official Election Act, his eligibility to run for office was revoked for 10 years from the date of release.
The victim Kim filed a lawsuit in July 2020 against Ahn and Chungnam Province claiming a total of 300 million KRW in damages, stating that she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to secondary harm during the investigation and trial process of this case. Earlier, in the first trial in May last year, it was ruled that Ahn should compensate Kim about 83.4 million KRW, of which about 53 million KRW was to be jointly compensated by Ahn and Chungnam Province. Later, in the second trial, the active damages, including 'past medical expenses' incurred at the time of the lawsuit and 'future medical expenses' expected to occur, were slightly reduced to 3,364,244 KRW from 3,790,303 KRW in the first trial, a decrease of about 426,000 KRW.
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