‘Obstructing Yoon Suk-yeol’s Arrest’ Park Jong-Jun’s sentence reduced to 3 years on appeal… Court “Resignation and remorse taken into account” - 경향신문

This article was translated by an AI tool. Feedback Here.

Park Jong-Jun, former Presidential Security Service chief, Kim Sung-Hoon, former Presidential Security Service deputy chief. Kyunghyang Shinmun DB

Last year, Park Jong-Jun, former chief of the Presidential Security Service, who was sentenced to four years in prison at first instance for obstructing the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials’ execution of an arrest warrant for former President Yoon Suk-yeol, had his sentence reduced to three years on appeal. While the court viewed his responsibility as grave for mobilizing the Presidential Security Service to block execution of the warrant under former President Yoon’s unlawful order, it took into account that he admitted the offense and voluntarily stepped down as chief.

Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul High Court, which handles insurrection cases (Presiding Judge Yoon Seong-Sik), delivered this sentence on the 28th to former chief Park, who was indicted on charges including obstruction of special official duties. Former Security Headquarters Director Lee Gwang-Woo, who was indicted alongside him, also had his sentence reduced from two years and six months at first instance to two years. Former Presidential Security Service Deputy Chief Kim Sung-Hoon and former Family Protection Director Kim Shin received the same sentences as at first instance: five years in prison, and one year in prison suspended for two years, respectively.

They were indicted on charges of mobilizing Presidential Security Service personnel and vehicles to block entry to the residence on January 3 last year, when the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials sought to execute an arrest warrant for former President Yoon on insurrection charges. It was found that they impeded the execution of the warrant by ordering staff to install vehicle barricades and barbed wire, or to form a ‘human scrum’ for defense.

The appellate panel largely upheld the first-instance guilty verdict that former chief Park and others had systematically obstructed the execution of the arrest warrant for former President Yoon. The court stated, “As the highest-ranking official of the Presidential Security Service, Park Jong-Jun had a duty to operate the organization lawfully, and he could fully recognize that blocking the execution of a court-issued warrant was illegal, yet he committed the offense, so his responsibility is not light.”

However, it found that former chief Park did not actively intend physical clashes between personnel of the Presidential Security Service and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. It especially considered as a favorable sentencing factor that he submitted his resignation on January 10, after the first attempt to execute the arrest warrant last year. The panel said, “He acknowledged responsibility for blocking the warrant’s execution and took responsibility by stepping down from his position,” and added, “Park Jong-Jun’s resignation fostered a more passive atmosphere within the Presidential Security Service toward further attempts to block execution of additional warrants.” At the appellate stage, his withdrawal of not-guilty claims, full admission of the offense, and remorse also served as grounds for reduction.

The panel maintained the first-instance finding that former headquarters director Lee played a key role by directing security personnel to block the warrant’s execution. However, it reduced the sentence in light of his admission and remorse, the fact that some acts were carried out under orders from superiors, and that a family member is battling a serious illness.

By contrast, it maintained the five-year sentence for former deputy chief Kim. The panel stated that during the two occasions of blocking the warrant’s execution, he “performed the most proactive and hardline role and played a pivotal role in the Presidential Security Service’s organized resistance to the execution of the warrant.” It added that even after former chief Park resigned, he continued serious misconduct by, as acting chief, blocking the second execution of the warrant. The panel noted that “some of the first-instance fact-finding regarding the first warrant execution, such as ‘additional deployment of military·police forces’ or a ‘proposal to install a vehicle barricade,’ was partly inappropriate,” but said this was not enough to change the overall assessment of his degree of involvement.

Former Deputy Chief Kim was also charged with ordering, on December 6 after the 12·3 illegal martial law was proclaimed in 2024, the deletion of secure-phone call logs of three army commanders in accordance with former President Yoon’s instructions. Kim claimed it was a legitimate security measure, but this, too, resulted in a guilty verdict on appeal, following the first instance.

Based on the combined testimony of the then Support Headquarters Director of the Presidential Security Service and others who received the instruction, the panel determined that former deputy chief Kim’s directive was intended to delete the call records or render them unconfirmable to investigative authorities. Accordingly, it held that Kim used the authority of the deputy chief’s office to issue a substantively unlawful and improper order, and that intent to abuse official authority was established. The very act of making call records difficult to verify can, in itself, impede the discovery and preservation of evidence.

As for former director Kim Shin, the court found no issue with the first-instance judgment that convicted him of some charges for using physical force at the scene of the warrant’s execution. Finding insufficient evidence that he conspired in advance with other Presidential Security Service executives across the overall scheme to block the warrant’s execution, it maintained the suspended sentence.