By Nam Hyun-woo
An appeals court upheld Friday the not guilty verdict on Yu Woo-sung, a former Seoul city official, who was cleared of espionage charges by a lower court.
In a major scandal, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) had allegedly fabricated documents to frame the ethnic Korean from China who posed as a North Korean defector. President Park Geun-hye expressed her regret over its action.
The Seoul High Court confirmed the lower court’s ruling, which found that he had not violated the National Security Law.
“It has been such a hard time,” Yu said. “I want to deliver my gratitude to the lawyers who defended me with trust, and priests and professors who supported me.”
On charges of violating the Passport Law and a law protecting northern defectors, the court sentenced him to a one-year jail term suspended for two years.
A fine of 25.6 million won was slapped on him for gaining subsidies by impersonating a North Korean defector.
The court dismissed statements by Yu’s sister, Ga-ryeo, that she and Yu worked for Pyongyang, which was the basis for the prosecution’s case.
Presiding Judge Kim Heung-joon said, “Those confessions are invalid because the NIS kept her in virtual detention, promising her that this was the only way she could reunite with her brother.”
Prosecutors claimed that Yu handed over information about North Korean defectors registered in Seoul to Pyongyang through his sister.
After the lower court’s verdict, the prosecution submitted Yu’s travel records between China and the North, and two other “Chinese government documents,” to the appeals court.
Minbyun, an association of progressive lawyers defending Yu, argued the documents were fabricated.
The Chinese Embassy in Seoul confirmed that the documents were not authentic, prompting prosecutors to reveal the spy agency was the source for them.
A special prosecution team found that some NIS agents worked together with informants and spent a large sum of money to fabricate the documents.
Several NIS officials, including the chief of its anti-communism team, were indicted on charges of document fabrication. However, NIS Director Nam Jae-joon and two prosecutors involved in the case were cleared.
Yu entered South Korea in April 2004, pretending he was a North Korean defector.
By doing so, he could get some 85 million won in government subsidies.
Minbyun lawyer Kim Yong-min said, “The ruling has significance in that it recognized Ga-ryeo was illegally detained for 170 days by the NIS. Also important is that the court confirmed that the investigative state agencies have defrauded the public.”