Former President Yoon Suk-yeol, indicted on charges of appointing former Ministry of National Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup as ambassador to Australia to help him flee overseas while he was under investigation by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), was acquitted at the first trial. The court found it difficult to conclude that there was an intent to obstruct the CIO's investigation behind Lee's appointment as ambassador.
The 22nd Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (presiding Judge Cho Hyung-woo, senior judge) on the 11th acquitted the former president Yoon, who was indicted on charges including aiding a suspect's escape, abuse of power to interfere with the exercise of rights, and violating the State Public Officials Act. The special counsel on the death of a Marine on duty had sought a five-year prison term for the former president Yoon.
Former National Intelligence Service Director Cho Tae-yong; former Office of National Security Director Jang Ho-jin; former presidential office public service discipline secretary Lee Si-won; former Ministry of Justice Minister Park Sung-jae; and former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung, who were tried together on charges of aiding a suspect's escape, were all acquitted. Former Director Cho was the Office of National Security director when the former Minister Lee was appointed ambassador to Australia, and former Prosecutor General Shim was the Ministry of Justice Vice Minister at the time.
The crux of the aiding escape charge in this case was whether there was intent to actually help the former Minister Lee, who was under investigation by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), leave the country to obstruct the probe.
The special counsel viewed that from around September 2023, the former president Yoon conspired with officials from the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Office of National Security, and presidential office to proceed with procedures to send the former Minister Lee, who had been booked as a suspect over alleged pressure on the investigation into a Marine's death on duty, to Australia. The special counsel also judged that the former president Yoon's order in November that year to appoint the former Minister Lee as ambassador to Australia was part of the escape plan.
However, the court did not accept these claims. It found that it could not be concluded that there was a purpose of obstructing the investigation behind the former president Yoon's appointment of the former Minister Lee as ambassador to Australia.
The court said, "There is room to view it as part of the exercise of appointment authority as head of state," adding, "It cannot be said that the previous ambassador was forcibly kicked out and that Lee Jong-sup was, in colloquial terms, 'parachuted in.'"
It also found it difficult to identify circumstances suggesting that the former Minister Lee evaded the CIO investigation at the time or refused requests for questioning. The court also cited as a basis that even after the former Minister Lee returned from Australia, there was no particular progress in the CIO's investigation until the special counsel on the Marine's death on duty was launched.
The so-called "Lee Jong-sup Australia escape allegation" surfaced when the former Minister Lee, a key suspect in the alleged pressure on the Marine death-on-duty investigation, was appointed ambassador to Australia in March 2024 and left the country. The special counsel judged that after the so-called "VIP rage rumor" and other allegations of investigation pressure were raised in earnest in August 2023 and the former Minister Lee, who had spoken directly by phone with the former president Yoon, was reported to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), the former president Yoon tried to send him overseas to avoid the investigation.
Former Ministry of Justice Minister Park and former Prosecutor General Shim were also charged with abuse of power to interfere with the exercise of rights for allegedly improperly intervening in the process of lifting the travel ban on the former Minister Lee. Abuse of power to interfere with the exercise of rights is a crime established when a public official abuses authority to compel another person to perform a duty not owed or to obstruct the exercise of rights.
Former Director Cho and former Director Jang were accused of exerting improper influence while proceeding, together with the former president Yoon, with the process to appoint the former Minister Lee as ambassador to Australia.
However, the first trial found it difficult to conclude that the core premise—an intent to flee overseas and to obstruct the investigation by the former Minister Lee—had been proven, and it acquitted all six defendants, including the former president Yoon.