"Judicial Corruption" Yang Sungtae Convicted on Appeal... Sentenced to 6 Months in Prison, 1 Year Suspended Sentence

Park Byungdae, Former Supreme Court Justice, Receives Six-Month Prison Sentence with One-Year Suspension
Ko Younghan, Former Supreme Court Justice, Acquitted

Yang Sungtae, the former Chief Justice who was indicted over the so-called 'Judicial Scandal' and acquitted in the first trial, has been sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for one year, in the appellate court.

Yonhap News Agency

On January 30, the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 14-1 (Presiding Judges Park Hyesun, Oh Youngsang, and Lim Jonghyo) handed down this sentence to former Chief Justice Yang, who was tried on charges including abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights. Former Supreme Court Justice Park Byungdae, who was indicted as an accomplice, was also sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for one year, while former Supreme Court Justice Ko Younghan was acquitted. This marks the appellate court’s decision nearly seven years after prosecutors indicted the three in February 2019 on a total of 47 charges. In the first trial in January 2024, all charges against Yang, Park, and Ko were dismissed.

Yang was accused of unjustly intervening in various trials-including the forced labor compensation case, the deregistration of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union, the National Intelligence Service’s election interference case, and the administrative lawsuit involving the Unified Progressive Party-over his six-year term starting in September 2011, in pursuit of establishing an appellate court, a longstanding goal of the judiciary. Additional charges included collecting internal information from the Constitutional Court via dispatched judges to strengthen the Supreme Court’s authority, and classifying judges critical of judicial administration as 'problematic judges' and disadvantaging them in personnel decisions.

The first trial found that Yang did not have the authority to intervene in other cases, so the charge of abuse of authority did not apply, and there was no evidence of direct conspiracy. However, the appellate court partially overturned this legal interpretation. The court stated, "If a judicial administrator’s request for cooperation appears formal but in substance constitutes intervention in a trial, it may constitute the crime of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights." The court recognized Yang and Park’s guilt for blocking the referral of a limited unconstitutionality review and for intervening in the appellate trial confirming the status of former Unified Progressive Party lawmakers.

The court rebuked, "Judicial independence is a non-negotiable constitutional value, and without public trust, the rule of law cannot be established. Considering that the defendant’s actions undermined judicial independence and led to distrust in fairness, the gravity of the offense cannot be considered minor."

At the sentencing hearing of the appellate trial in September last year, prosecutors again requested a seven-year prison sentence for Yang, and five and four years for Park and Ko, respectively, as they had in the first trial.

The allegations of abuse of judicial administrative power, labeled the 'Judicial Scandal,' first surfaced in 2017. The issue came to light when then-Judicial Policy Researcher Lee Tanhee resigned in protest against what was called the 'judges surveillance' controversy. Although the Supreme Court’s own investigation concluded that "no blacklist exists," discontent within the judiciary persisted.

Subsequently, in May 2018, then-Chief Justice Kim Myeongsu issued a public apology and announced cooperation with the prosecution’s investigation, leading to the first-ever prosecutorial probe targeting the Supreme Court. This process caused significant upheaval throughout the judiciary, as senior and mid-level judges were investigated or became subjects of inquiry.

A total of 14 senior judges, including Yang, were indicted. With this appellate ruling, the number of defendants convicted on some charges has increased to five. Lim Jongheon, former Deputy Chief of the National Court Administration (then a High Court judge), identified as the 'top executor,' was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for three years, in the appellate court. Former National Court Administration General Affairs Director Lee Mingul and former Sentencing Commission Standing Commissioner Lee Kyujin were sentenced in the appellate court to a fine of 15 million won and one year in prison, suspended for two years, respectively.