Former defense chiefs sentenced 30 months
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Former Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin leaves the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul, Thursday, after receiving a two-and-a-half-year prison term for orchestrating the military cyber command’s online opinion rigging operation in 2012. / Yonhap
By Kim Jae-heun
Former Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, Thursday, for ordering a massive online operation by the military to rig public opinion in favor of the then-conservative ruling party in 2012.
The Seoul Central District Court found Kim guilty of intervening in politics contrary to the Military Criminal Act; but allowed him to remain free as he is standing trial on other charges.
“Kim's act distorted people's political opinion and prevented politicians and political parties from having free competition,” the court said in its ruling. “It is unacceptable, for any reason, for a state organization to illegally intervene in forming public opinion for the purpose of creating specific opinions.”
The court said his act gravely violated the military's obligation to be politically neutral. “The obligation was made after the June 10, 1986 uprising as the military was deeply involved in politics and damaged the value of free democracy. But Kim, who was the chief of the defense ministry, violated this obligation and betrayed the public's trust in the military.”
Kim was accused of orchestrating the military's Cyber Command to support the then ruling party and criticize its opponents before and after the general election and presidential election in 2012 under the Lee Myung-bak administration.
Soldiers at the cyberwarfare command were ordered to write positive comments online to news articles favorable to the then-ruling Saenuri Party, the predecessor of the Liberty Korea Party, and malicious ones for the then-main opposition Democratic United Party. The cyber command posted about 9,000 such comments.
Kim, who headed the ministry from 2010 to 2014, was appointed as national security adviser to Park Geun-hye during her presidency.
The court also found Kim guilty of abusing his power to interfere with the ministry's 2013 internal investigation of the Cyber Command's involvement in political activity. The investigation was conducted as suspicions had emerged, but the internal probe team concluded at the time there had been no systematic cyber operation and that some soldiers at the command posted such comments voluntarily.
Leaving the court, Kim said he respects the court's decision and he would review whether to appeal.
Lim Kwan-bin, a former policy planning chief at the defense ministry, also received an 18-month prison term suspended for three years, for his involvement in the cyber operation under Kim.
The two were arrested in November 2017, but were released from custody after two weeks when a court decided there was little chance Kim would flee or destroy evidence, and Lim posted 10 million won bail.