The court decided to reopen the retrial of the late Kim Jae-kyu, former director of the National Intelligence Service, for the first time in 45 years, and the prosecution immediately filed an appeal against this. Kim Jae-kyu was prosecuted for the murder of former President Park Chung-hee and former Presidential Security Service chief Cha Ji-cheol on October 26, 1979, and was sentenced to death in May 1980.

Kim Jae-kyu, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (right), at the 3rd trial of the martial law high military court. / Courtesy of Yonhap News.

On the 25th, the prosecution stated that it had filed an immediate appeal against the decision to reopen the Kim Jae-kyu case. An immediate appeal is a procedure to dispute a court's decision. The prosecution noted, "It is difficult to consider that the existence of reasons for retrial has been proven to the extent equivalent to a final decision." They also stated, "In light of the seriousness and historical significance of the matter, it is deemed appropriate to seek the Supreme Court's judgment on whether to reopen the case."

The 7th Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court (Chief Judge Lee Jae-kwon) decided to reopen the retrial of the Kim Jae-kyu case on the 19th. This comes more than five years after the bereaved family filed for a retrial in May 2020. The court acknowledged, "It can be recognized that investigators from the martial law command beat and electrically tortured Kim Jae-kyu during the investigation for several days."

Kim Jae-kyu was arrested for the murder of former President Park on October 26, 1979, and was charged with murder for insurrection and attempted insurrection. Both the first and second trials sentenced Kim Jae-kyu to death, and the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence on May 20, 1980, by dismissing the appeal. The execution of the death penalty took place four days later, on the 24th.

In May 2020, the bereaved family requested a retrial, claiming, "The trial was not conducted fairly." The defense team for Kim Jae-kyu asserted, "Testimonies about brutal acts during the investigation emerged, and there are significant discrepancies between the trial transcripts and the trial records."