Park Jongjun Denies Charges in First Trial Over "Yoon Classified Phone Deletion," Claims Unaware Call Records Would Be Erased

Accused of Deleting Classified Phone Data
Park’s Legal Team: "No Intentional Destruction of Evidence"

Park Jongjun, former Chief of the Presidential Security Service, who was indicted on charges of deleting classified phone information belonging to former President Yoon Suk-yeol and former First Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service Hong Jangwon after the December 3 Martial Law Incident, denied the charges at his first trial.

Park Jongjun, former Chief of Presidential Security Service, is attending an investigation at the Special Prosecutor's Office for the Internal Rebellion case set up at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul on July 4, 2025. Photo by Kang Jinhyung

The 32nd Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Ryu Kyungjin) held the first pretrial hearing on the 20th for Park, who is accused of destroying evidence. A pretrial hearing is a procedure to organize future trial plans before the formal trial begins, and the defendant is not required to attend. However, Park appeared in court on this day.

Park’s legal team acknowledged the facts of the case but argued that the issue of intent should be contested. Park’s attorney stated, “We acknowledge the actions described in the special prosecutor’s indictment,” but added, “Logging out of Hong’s classified phone was a routine security measure.” The attorney further explained, “There was no awareness that logging out of Hong’s classified phone would result in the deletion of the call records with former President Yoon and others.”

When the court asked whether there were specific regulations regarding the handling of classified phones, Park responded, “There were some unclear aspects in the regulations.”

The court discussed the possibility of merging Park’s case with that of Cho Taeyong, former Director of the National Intelligence Service, who is also facing charges of violating the National Intelligence Service Act. Both cases are being heard by the same division. The court announced that the issue of merging the cases would be discussed at the second pretrial hearing for Cho’s case, scheduled for the 29th.

The special prosecutor team led by Cho Eunseok indicted Park last December, alleging that after the December 3 Martial Law Incident, Park had intentionally deleted classified phone information belonging to former President Yoon, former Deputy Director Hong, and former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Chief Kim Bongsik by remotely logging out of the devices. The special prosecutor’s team applied the charge of evidence destruction, asserting that Park acted with the intent to destroy evidence related to the rebellion.