Former Defense Intelligence Command chief Noh Sang-won was indicted on charges including receiving information on command agents to form a "second investigation unit" to probe alleged election fraud during the Dec. 3 emergency martial law, and was sentenced to prison in the first trial. It is the first ruling among the cases indicted by the special counsel on insurrection.
The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 21 (Presiding Judge Lee Hyun-bok) on the 15th sentenced former commander Noh, who was brought to trial on charges of violating the Personal Information Protection Act and receiving a bribe for brokerage under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, to two years in prison and ordered the forfeiture of 24.9 million won.
Prosecutors earlier sought three years in prison and requested the forfeiture of money received in return for a promotion solicitation, as well as the confiscation of seized department store gift certificates. The court found all charges in the indictment guilty.
The court found that the defendant's crimes became one of the driving forces that led to the stage of declaring martial law. It said the conduct cannot be assessed only by the culpability for violating the Personal Information Protection Act or receiving a bribe for brokerage, and that it resulted in the unconstitutional and unlawful declaration of emergency martial law, warranting stern accountability.
The court also rejected former commander Noh's claim that he received the list of command agents to prepare for a mass defection crisis. The court pointed out that the formation of the second investigation unit was arranged with a martial law situation in mind at a specific point in time, and that the claim of preparing for signs of mass defections was merely a formal pretext.
According to the special counsel's indictment, former commander Noh was indicted on charges of receiving military information, including personal information on Defense Intelligence Command agents, from former commander Moon Sang-ho and others between September and December last year to form the second investigation unit. He was also charged with receiving 20 million won in cash and department store gift certificates worth 6 million won between August and September last year from former Defense Intelligence Command Central Press Corps chief Kim Bong-gyu and former Army 2nd Armored Brigade commander Gu Sam-hoe in return for helping them get promoted.