The special prosecutor for the fallen Marine Lee Myung-hyun announced on the 9th that he has decided to withdraw the appeal against Colonel Park Jeong-hoon of the Marine Corps. Colonel Park was acquitted in the first trial after being indicted on charges of insubordination and defamation of a superior while investigating the fallen Marine incident. The Ministry of National Defense's prosecution appealed, and the second trial was in progress. With the special prosecutor's withdrawal of the appeal on this day, Colonel Park has had his acquittal confirmed.
On this day, the special prosecutor stated in a press briefing, "After a comprehensive review of the first trial verdict, objective evidence, and the legal grounds for the military prosecution's appeal, we decided to withdraw the appeal against Colonel Park Jeong-hoon." He further noted, "It was deemed a lawful act according to the legislation that Colonel Park was in charge of the initial investigation of the case and referred it to the police."
He continued, "The Ministry of National Defense's prosecution of Colonel Park on charges of instigating collective insubordination constitutes an abuse of prosecutorial rights." He also said, "Maintaining the prosecution in light of the first trial court's ruling, which took over a year to deliberate and resulted in an acquittal, is not a responsible attitude for a special prosecutor."
Colonel Park was indicted for insubordination on October 6 of the same year by the Ministry of National Defense's prosecution for failing to comply with the order of then-Marine Corps Commander Kim Gye-hwan to withhold the referral of the investigation results regarding the fallen Marine incident that occurred on July 19, 2023. The military prosecution also applied charges of defamation of a superior, believing that Colonel Park distorted comments made by then-Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-seob in media interviews, leading the public to perceive that the former minister had given an unjust directive.
The Central Military Court acquitted Colonel Park in January. The court stated, "Based solely on the evidence submitted by the military prosecution, it is difficult to prove the specific fact that former Commander Kim gave Colonel Park a directive to hold off on the referral." It also noted, "It is difficult to view former Commander Kim's directive to withhold the referral as justifiable according to the amendments to the Military Court Act."