A former head of research planning, indicted on charges of embezzling funds from the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), an agency affiliated with the National Intelligence Service (NIS), was sentenced to prison in the first trial.
According to legal sources on the 12th, the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 35 (Presiding Judge Baek Dae-hyun) on the 3rd sentenced a person surnamed Cho, who was charged with embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, to three years in prison and a fine of 1 million won.
Cho is accused of using about 940 million won, including INSS research and development reserve funds, for personal purposes such as card payments, entertainment expenses, and loan repayment between December 2017 and May 2022.
He is also charged with providing goods and money totaling about 43 million won to a former Office of National Security administrative official surnamed Ko from January 2019 to February 2020, and with providing 3 million won to a lawmaker's supporters association under another person's name (violating the Political Funds Act).
The court said, "Given the INSS's founding purpose and operating methods, the defendant, who served as head of research planning and as deputy head of planning, is required to have a high sense of public duty, morality, and integrity," adding, "Considering the method and period of the crimes, the amount of damage, and how the funds were used, the nature of the offense is by no means good."
The former administrative official Ko, who received money and valuables from Cho, was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended for two years.
Meanwhile, Cho is also a central figure in allegations that former National Intelligence Service Director Suh Hoon gave preferential hiring to a member of Moon Jae-in's presidential campaign at an agency under the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
Suh was investigated by prosecutors on suspicion of giving Cho—who had been a member of Moon's campaign when Moon was a presidential candidate around August 2017—preferential treatment in hiring as INSS head of research planning, but he was cleared in July 2024.