The court ruled to dismiss the case, citing violations of the Criminal Procedure Act and the Personal Information Protection Act. A dismissal occurs when the court determines that the conditions for a lawsuit have not been met.
On Tuesday, the Suwon District Court’s Criminal Division 5, presided over by Judge Kim Joo-seong, dismissed the charges against Hyun Geun-taek, the former deputy mayor of Suwon. The case was related to the alleged leak of documents concerning suspicions of remittances to North Korea by Ssangbangwool.
Previously, prosecutors had sought a sentence of one year and six months in prison for the former deputy mayor.
Hyun faced charges for allegedly leaking prosecution evidence documents to the Democratic Party without authorization. These documents were copied during the trial of Lee Hwa-young, the former deputy governor of Gyeonggi Province, for purposes unrelated to the lawsuit.
In March of the same year, he also faced charges for providing a witness interrogation transcript containing personal information to the Democratic Party without proper authority. This transcript was from a witness who testified during the trial of the former deputy governor, and it was subsequently posted on the social media account of Lee Jae Myung, the leader of the Democratic Party.
Throughout the proceedings, Hyun consistently maintained his innocence, arguing that the investigation and prosecution of this case constituted grounds for dismissal.
His defense team cited Article 4, Section 1 (Duties of Prosecutors) of the current Prosecutors’ Office Act and Article 198, Section 4 (Compliance Obligations) of the Criminal Procedure Act as the basis for their dismissal argument.
The defense argued that the prosecution’s allegations claimed the defendant leaked the NanoS investment attraction (IR) report and the witness interrogation transcript related to the Lee Hwa-young case. They contended that the key issue was whether there was direct relevance, asserting that this case had no connection to the Lee Hwa-young case.
They also pointed out that the NanoS IR report was publicly available online for anyone to download, and the contents of the witness interrogation transcript had already been testified to in open court.
Judge Kim viewed the prosecution itself as invalid without determining guilt or innocence. He stated that while the prosecutor claimed the prosecution was valid because an investigation had begun, this case fell outside the prosecutor’s jurisdiction, thus ruling in favor of the former deputy mayor.
He continued, explaining that to recognize the defendant’s allegations as guilty, the NanoS investment attraction report and the transcript must constitute direct evidence. However, he found it difficult to acknowledge this case as a crime directly related to the Lee Hwa-young case.
Following the ruling, Hyun expressed strong regret towards the prosecution.
He stated that he has argued that the prosecution should not investigate because it lacks jurisdiction, even before being questioned. This ruling has revealed that the multiple searches and summons conducted by the prosecution were illegal.
He added that he hopes this ruling clarifies the scope of prosecutorial authority and serves as a turning point for the rule of law.
Kim Jong-bo, Hyun’s attorney, also noted that last year, the Supreme Court issued a similar ruling, emphasizing that the scope of the prosecutor’s authority to initiate investigations should be minimized to protect citizens’ rights and fundamental freedoms.
Hyun previously served as the deputy director of the Democratic Party’s Democratic Research Institute, vice chair of the Policy Committee, and as a full-time spokesperson for the central party before resigning to run for mayor of Yongin in this year’s local elections.