Former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, who was put on trial on charges of leaking the Defense Intelligence Command roster to investigate "allegations of election fraud" during the Dec. 3 martial law, was sentenced to prison in the first trial.
The Criminal Agreement Division 21 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Cho Soon-pyo, senior judge) sentenced the former Minister to three years in prison on the 19th on charges of leaking military discipline under the Military Criminal Act and violating the Personal Information Protection Act.
The court said, "As the defense Minister, the former Minister Kim had a duty to establish national security order by protecting military secrets and the personal information of service members, and was well aware of the need to protect military secrets and the personal information of operatives and special mission personnel," adding, "Nevertheless, using the military chain of command, he played a decisive role in allowing Noh Sang-won, a civilian and former Defense Intelligence Command chief, to freely access the Defense Intelligence Command's personal data."
It continued, "We cannot help but hold the defendant most strictly accountable for the offense of leaking military discipline in this case," adding, "Furthermore, it became one of the driving forces that led to the proclamation stage of martial law that lacked any substantive requirements, and resulted in the grave outcome of an unconstitutional and unlawful proclamation of martial law, going beyond a mere leak of military discipline or a violation of the Personal Information Protection Act."
The former Minister Kim was indicted on charges of delivering the names and other personal details of more than 40 Defense Intelligence Command operatives to Noh, then a civilian, in Oct.–Nov. 2024, prior to the proclamation of the illegal Dec. 3 martial law. It was found that the former Minister Kim and the former chief Noh sought to form a second investigation unit to probe alleged election fraud under emergency martial law based on the roster.
Earlier, the insurrection special counsel team led by Cho Eun-suk asked the court to sentence the former Minister Kim to five years in prison.
Former chief Noh was separately indicted on related charges and last month received a final sentence of two years in prison at the Supreme Court.
The former Minister Kim was sentenced in February to 30 years in prison on the charge of engaging in important duties in an insurrection, and his appeal is underway. He was also sentenced to three years in prison for incitement to destroy evidence, and 30 years in prison on charges (general aiding the enemy, etc.) of ordering a drone infiltration operation into North Korea to fabricate grounds for insurrection.