Supreme Court: "Blue House and DSC Ordered Online Comment Manipulation, Constitutes Abuse of Authority"...Guilty Verdict Finalized

The Key Issue: Whether Abuse of Authority Was Established
First Trial: "Partially Guilty" ? Suspended Prison Sentences
Appeals Court Dismisses Appeals, Upholds Original Ruling
Supreme Court Dismisses Final Appeal, Convictions Finalized

Yonhap News Agency

The Supreme Court has finalized a guilty verdict in a case where former Blue House officials were tried on charges of directing online opinion manipulation by mobilizing an internal cyber-comment unit within the Defense Security Command (DSC).

According to the legal community on January 26, the Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Noh Taeak) dismissed the appeals and upheld the lower court's ruling against two former Blue House New Media Secretaries who were indicted on charges of abuse of authority. The two were accused of conspiring with the former DSC commander from July 2011 to February 2013 to instruct members of the so-called 'Sparta' unit, an internal DSC cyber-comment group, to post politically motivated content online.

Prosecutors alleged that the defendants directed DSC personnel to repeatedly post messages supporting the president and the government on social media platforms such as Twitter while concealing their identities as military personnel, making them appear to be ordinary citizens. They also instructed them to publish and distribute webzines disguised as if they were issued by civilian organizations. In the first trial, the court found part of the charges against the defendants to be true, sentencing former Secretary Kim to one year in prison, suspended for two years, and former Secretary Lee to one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years. The appellate court also dismissed the defendants' appeals, maintaining the original verdict.

The Supreme Court accepted the lower courts' judgments, finding no legal misinterpretation in their rulings, and rejected the appeals. The charges in this case were divided into: ▲ abuse of authority related to online opinion manipulation such as posting politically motivated content; ▲ abuse of authority related to the creation and distribution of 'Konasplus' and other online opinion manipulation activities; ▲ abuse of authority related to reporting 'Daily Cyber Search Results'; and ▲ abuse of authority related to reporting recordings and summaries of the podcast 'Naneun Ggomsuda.' The lower court found the defendants guilty on some of these charges and not guilty on others.

The Supreme Court upheld the lower court's decisions on both the guilty verdicts appealed by the defendants and the not-guilty verdicts appealed by the prosecution, thereby finalizing the convictions of the two defendants.