A decision has again found unlawful the Financial Supervisory Service's refusal to disclose detailed records of the Financial Supervisory Service governor's business promotion expenses. With the appellate court, following the first-instance court, siding with the civic group, if the ruling is finalized, details of the business promotion expenses executed during former Governor Lee Bok-hyun's term are expected to be made public.
On the 9th, according to legal sources, the Seoul High Court's Administrative Division 9-1 (presiding judge Hong Ji-young, Director General) dismissed the FSS appeal in the appeal of the lawsuit filed by the Center for Freedom of Information to cancel the FSS's disposition refusing disclosure of information.
Earlier, in June 2025, the first-instance court ruled that the FSS must cancel its disposition refusing to disclose detailed records of business promotion expenses. Reaching the same conclusion, this appeal ruling again put the brakes on the FSS's nondisclosure disposition.
The lawsuit was filed in Aug. 2024 after the Center for Freedom of Information requested in Apr. 2024 that the FSS disclose detailed execution records of the governor's business promotion expenses but was rejected. While the FSS had published its business promotion expenses once a year, it disclosed only the number of cases by category—such as roundtables, business consultations, and family event expenses—and the aggregates, without revealing specifically when and where the money was spent, for whom, and how much.
In the lawsuit, the FSS argued that if the establishments visited by the governor were disclosed, those businesses could suffer harm due to demonstrations, and that if the number of diners or execution methods were known, the substance of discussions could be inferred and affect financial markets. However, the court found that such circumstances alone do not make a compelling case for nondisclosure.
If this ruling is finalized as is, the disclosure will cover the execution records of business promotion expenses from June 2022 to Apr. 2024, when Lee served as governor. Detailed information, including the date and time of use, the place of execution, the number of people involved, and the amount executed, will be included.
The Center for Freedom of Information criticized the FSS for delaying disclosure by continuing litigation even as it repeatedly promised to disclose the information.