Supreme Court upholds suspended prison term for ex-unification minister in 'blacklist' scandal

Former Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, right, speaks during a National Assembly committee meeting on inter-Korean cooperation in Seoul, March 21, 2019. Korea Times file

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a suspended prison term for former Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon for forcing the resignation of a state agency official during former President Moon Jae-in's term.

Cho was found guilty of abusing his power as the then unification minister to demand a resignation letter from Sohn Kwang-ju, the then head of what is now the Korea Hana Foundation, in 2017. Sohn, who had been appointed during the previous administration of President Park Geun-hye, had a year left of his term.

The top court finalized the former minister's sentence of six months in prison, suspended for a year. The ruling came 3 1/2 months after the prosecution indicted him.

Cho was one of five Moon administration officials indicted in January 2023 on charges of forcing the resignations of a total of 19 state agency chiefs between September 2017 and April 2018 in what became known as the "blacklist" scandal.

The other defendants are former Industry Minister Paik Un-gyu, former ICT Minister You Young-min, former senior presidential secretary for personnel affairs Cho Hyun-ock and former presidential secretary for personnel affairs Kim Bong-joon.

Their trials are currently under way at district courts.