Independence activist the late Lee Gwansul, who was identified as the ringleader of the Joseon Jeongpansa counterfeit banknote case right after liberation, sentenced to life imprisonment, and executed during the war, was acquitted in a retrial. The court found that the confessions of those involved, used as the key basis for the conviction at the time, were obtained through unlawful procedures, including illegal detention, and thus had no evidentiary value.
The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Agreement Division 21 (Presiding Judge Lee Hyeon-bok, Director General judge) on the 22nd acquitted Lee in a retrial sentencing hearing on charges including currency counterfeiting, saying, "The confessions of those involved were obtained through unlawful detention by judicial police officers and cannot be used as evidence of guilt."
The bench found that even at the time of the judgment subject to the retrial, detention of persons was not allowed without limit, and the legal principle had been established that evidence of guilt must be obtained through due process. It also determined that the legal principles on detention and admissibility of evidence could be applied to judgments from the U.S. military government period.
The bench said the co-defendants' confession statements were made through crimes of abuse of authority and unlawful detention by judicial police officers, so the voluntariness of the statements could not be recognized, or they constituted illegally collected evidence. It added that the main evidence cited in the prior judgment as proof of guilt was inadmissible, and the remaining evidence had little probative value, leaving no choice but to render a not-guilty verdict. The bench added, "We hope this ruling offers at least some comfort to the teacher and the bereaved family."
At the earlier closing hearing, prosecutors said they had comprehensively reviewed the judgment, parts of the trial record, media articles from the time, and scholarly works, and they sought an acquittal.
The Joseon Jeongpansa counterfeit banknote case centers on the allegation that key officials of the Joseon Communist Party used the printing facilities of Joseon Jeongpansa in the Geuntaek Building in Sogong-dong, Seoul, from late 1945 to early 1946 to print counterfeit banknotes six times, 2 million won each time, totaling 12 million won. Joseon Jeongpansa was where the Bank of Joseon notes were printed during Japanese rule and is known to have been taken over by the Joseon Communist Party after liberation, renamed, and used as its headquarters.
Lee was identified as the ringleader, sentenced to life imprisonment by the Gyeongseong District Court during the U.S. military government, and, after serving time, is said to have been executed in July 1950 during the Korean War at Golryeong Valley in Daejeon. The bereaved family filed for a retrial in July 2023, and the court decided to open the retrial, finding that judgments from the U.S. military government period are also subject to judicial review.
After the sentencing, Lee's granddaughter by marriage, Son Ok-hee, said, "Together with the entire nation, we declare that justice, long suppressed over the years, has finally stood upright before history," adding, "This ruling is an official acknowledgement by the judiciary of the historical wrongdoing that, right after liberation, state power constructed a fabricated criminal case under a political purpose."