A former police officer, indicted on charges of leaking police investigation information to outsiders during the probe into actor Lee Sun-kyun, who died while under investigation for suspected drug use, received a suspended prison sentence.
On the 17th, Judge Kim Saet-byeol of the Incheon District Court's Criminal Division 11 sentenced A, a former police officer in their 30s indicted on charges including leaking official secrets, to one year and two months in prison, suspended for two years. The court also ordered A to perform 80 hours of community service.
Judge Kim also fined B, a reporter indicted on charges of providing investigation information received from A to another reporter, 5 million won.
Judge Kim noted, "In A's case, the person leaked investigation-related personal information twice, and B leaked the information received to another reporter, committing crimes that undermined public trust," adding, "Their culpability is not light."
However, "They admitted their wrongdoing, and it did not cause substantial disruption to the investigation," the judge said, adding, "It cannot be seen that they took economic gains." The judge then explained the sentencing reasons: "Consideration was given to the fact that A diligently served as a police officer for 10 years before being dismissed, that B received disciplinary action at the workplace, and that acquaintances petitioned for leniency."
Earlier, at the sentencing hearing on the 17th of last month, prosecutors sought three years in prison for A and six months in prison for B.
A was indicted on charges of leaking to two reporters, including B, in Oct. 2023, by means such as photographing and sending an investigation progress report containing details related to the probe into actor Lee Sun-kyun's suspected drug case. The report A transmitted included the names, criminal records, identities, and occupations of investigation targets related to Lee's drug case. The document was prepared in 2023 by the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency's narcotics crime investigation unit.
A media outlet that received materials from B reported, on Dec. 28, 2023, two days after Lee's death, a photo of an edited version of the report and its contents. A, who was dismissed from duty over the incident, filed a suit to overturn the dismissal against the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency, but lost in the first instance in Aug. and again last month on appeal.
Actor Lee Sun-kyun, after being booked on drug charges on Oct. 14, 2023, was summoned by police for questioning three times and was found dead on Dec. 27 of the same year in a sport utility vehicle (SUV) parked near Waryong Park in Jongno District, Seoul.
Afterward, the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency, which had been investigating Lee's suspected drug offenses, asked the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency to verify the circumstances of the leak of investigation information and requested an investigation. The Gyeonggi Nambu agency conducted related investigations, including a search and seizure of the Incheon agency, and referred A and others without detention.