Legally Unaware Person of National Merit... Court Says "Not Guilty," Prosecution Appeals

Mr Park, A Person Of National Merit Unfamiliar With The Law
Trial On Charges Of "Unlawful Use Of An Official Document"
Court: "No Punishment When There Is No Abuse"
Prosecution: "Cannot Conclude There Was No Intent"

A person of national merit who was put on trial on charges of using a disabled parking permit on a rental car has been acquitted by the court. However, the prosecution appealed the ruling, and he now faces trial again.

On the 30th, Mr Park (75), whom I met at the Disabled Veterans Association office in the Hanam City Veterans Hall in Gyeonggi Province, showed the reporter the management office's 'temporary parking permit' that he said he had placed on the rental car's front door window immediately after the accident. Reporter Lee Jiye.

On the 4th, Judge Kang Myeonggu of the 11th Single Criminal Division at the Seongnam Branch of the Suwon District Court announced that he had acquitted Mr Park (75), who had been indicted on charges of unlawful use of an official document.

Mr Park, a person of national merit who was shot while serving in the Vietnam War and a Level 2 person with disabilities, recently parked in a disabled parking space at a shopping mall near his home using a rental car instead of his own vehicle, which had been sent for repairs after a minor collision. Under the current system, disabled parking permits are issued to a "vehicle" rather than a "person," and a new permit must be issued when using another vehicle for reasons such as repairs. However, because he was not familiar with the law, Mr Park had been parking by placing on the front windshield the "temporary parking pass" (photo) issued by his apartment management office immediately after the accident, together with the disabled parking permit.

Ultimately, Mr Park was indicted on charges of using a disabled parking permit on a rental car. An unidentified neighbor had reported him. During the trial, Mr Park pleaded, "I did not know I had to get a new permit for a car I was only borrowing for a short time." Mr Park's spouse, Ms Kim (75), also said, "We believed it was a legally valid certificate because it had been accepted without any problem at the veterans hospital we regularly visit to treat the hole (gunshot wound) in Mr Park's neck."

The presiding judge in the first trial, Judge Kang, ruled, "Since the permit was used for its original purpose despite not satisfying simple procedural requirements, it does not constitute unlawful use." Judge Kang added, "It is difficult to see that Mr Park used the disabled parking permit improperly with intent, and it cannot be said that he had no authority to use the permit." The judge explained that the crime of unlawful use of an official document is established only when a person without authority pretends to have such authority, or when a person with authority exercises it in an improper manner.

In response, the prosecution appealed, arguing that "it cannot be concluded that there was no intent." The city of Hanam also separately imposed an administrative fine of 2 million won on Mr Park in connection with this case. Mr Park lamented, "I believed I had devoted myself to the country. But it feels as though the state is determined to punish me to the end, even after an acquittal."

Meanwhile, as institutional unfairness continued in which mobility-impaired persons who inevitably use another vehicle faced criminal punishment in cases like this, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission prepared an improvement plan to shift the basis for issuing parking permits from a vehicle-centered system to a "person"-centered one, and recommended it to the Ministry of Health and Welfare last year.