A one-year prison sentence was finalized for a person surnamed Yoo (42), who was sent to trial on charges of intimidation for sending a package containing a box cutter and a dead bird to then-Justice Party lawmaker Yoon So-ha in 2019.
The Supreme Court's Third Division (presiding Justice Noh Kyung-pil) said on the 17th that it affirmed the lower court ruling that sentenced Yoo to one year in prison in the appeal of the intimidation case on the 11th.
In July 2019, when Yoo was the operations committee chair of the Seoul University Students Progressive Association, Yoo sent a threatening package to the office of lawmaker Yoon So-ha at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Inside the package were a box cutter and a dead bird, as well as a letter that referred to Yoo as "Taegukgi Self-Determination Corps" and, in red letters, denounced lawmaker Yoon as a "Minjoo Party second battalion stooge." It also said, "You are within our range."
The first trial acquitted Yoo. The first-instance court found that Yoo's location data was evidence unlawfully collected by investigators. To track Yoo's movements at the time, investigators executed a warrant on a public transit company but used fax instead of the original.
The second trial sentenced Yoo to one year in prison. The appellate court recognized the admissibility of the location data, saying, "The investigators' search-and-seizure warrant was involved, and it is not balanced to exclude the evidence due to a minor oversight in the course of urgent proceedings."
It added, "Threatening a sitting lawmaker, who is central to representative democracy, is a crime that harms not just one citizen but the whole," and "the culpability is poor, as the offense was vehemently denied even after indictment."
The Supreme Court dismissed Yoo's appeal, finding that the lower court did not misunderstand the law.
Yoo previously served as the 15th chair of the Korean Federation of University Student Councils (Hanchongryun). Yoo also received a suspended prison sentence at the time for violating the National Security Act.