Court upholds Cho Kuk's conviction, sentences him to 2 years

Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk entering the Seoul High Court on Thursday. [YONHAP]

Seoul High Court upheld former Justice Minister Cho Kuk's conviction for power abuse and obstruction on Thursday.

"Cho has not shown any remorse in this court, just as he didn't in the lower court," the bench said in its ruling. The court also sentenced him to two years in prison, though it issued no arrest warrant for Cho.

The ruling was the focus of political attention as Cho had expressed his intention to run in the general election in April.

Upon the verdict on Thursday, Cho made comments alluding to a bid to run.

"The April general election should be the beginning of preventing the regression of democracy," he said in a statement on Thursday. "I will do what I can for that."

A close and trusted aide of former President Moon Jae-in, Cho served as Moon's presidential secretary on civil affairs from 2017 to 2019 and later as justice minister.

However, his ministerial tenure lasted just a month as Cho stepped down over his power abuse scandal.

The prosecution indicted him in December 2019 for allegedly pulling strings to get his children into good universities and illegally amassing wealth. He was also accused of abuse of power while serving in the Blue House.

Seoul Central District Court in February last year pronounced him guilty of abusing power to get his children into school and sentenced him to two years in prison. It also ordered him to forfeit 6 million won ($4,900).

It said that he obstructed the business of multiple universities by submitting fake certificates for his children and even taking an online test on behalf of his son, a student at George Washington University.

Cho was also found guilty of violating the Anti-Solicitation and Graft Act by receiving 6 million won from Roh Hwan-jung, a professor at Pusan National University's medical school, under the pretext that it was a scholarship for his daughter.

Roh was found guilty of violating the Anti-Solicitation and Graft Act and sentenced to six months with a one-year probation last year.

Cho's daughter was accepted to Pusan National University's medical school in Busan and graduated, but after the verdict, the university announced in 2022 that it had revoked her admission.

Cho's son was accepted to Yonsei University Graduate School. He announced last year that he would voluntarily forfeit his diploma.

While Cho was found guilty on almost every charge regarding his children, he was acquitted on most of the rest concerning allegations of power abuse at the Blue House.

On allegations that Cho tried to cover up a Blue House probe into Busan's former vice mayor for economic affairs, Yoo Jae-soo, the court ruled that Cho abused his power as the president's senior secretary to stop the probe.

Cho's wife, Chung Kyung-sim, a former English professor at Dongyang University, was also pronounced guilty of forging documents for the couple's son last year.

Chung was serving a four-year sentence, doled out in 2020, for her daughter's admissions scandal and other corruption charges. Her sentence was extended another year last year, which she appealed.

The Seoul High Court upheld Chung's conviction on Thursday but doled out a suspended sentence.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]