Retired general gets 2-year sentence over martial law involvement

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Noh Sang-won testifies at the Seoul Central District Court, Dec. 8. Courtesy of Seoul Central District Court

A court on Monday sentenced retired Army Maj. Gen. Noh Sang-won to two years in prison for collecting the personal information of military intelligence officers in connection with last year's martial law.

Noh, a former commander of the Defense Intelligence Command (DIC), was also ordered by the Seoul Central District Court to forfeit 24.9 million won ($17,000) for accepting bribes from subordinate officers.

This is the first court sentence among cases handled by special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team investigating former President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law imposition on Dec. 3 last year. Cho's team demanded a three-year imprisonment for Noh in the previous hearing.

Noh was indicted for receiving military intelligence, including personal information of DIC agents, from military commanders between September and December last year in order to create an organization to investigate allegations of election fraud.

He was also charged with accepting 20 million won in cash and department store gift certificates worth a total of 6 million won between August and September last year from a brigadier general and a colonel in exchange for his promise to help their promotions.

The court said Noh should be held liable because his crimes were one of the driving forces that led to the martial law declaration.

Noh was known to be a close confidant of former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who was arrested for involvement in Yoon's martial law declaration.