Supreme Court upholds suspended sentence on former top cop for election interference

Former National Police Agency Commissioner General Kang Sin-myeong walks into Seoul Central District Court on May 15, 2019. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

The Supreme Court upheld a suspended prison sentence for former National Police Agency Commissioner General Kang Sin-myeong for interfering in the 2016 parliamentary elections and illegally surveilling groups critical of the Park Geun-hye administration on Tuesday.

Kang was charged with illegally gathering information and devising election strategies that gave an advantage to then-lawmakers allied with former President Park ahead of the 20th general election in April 2016.

Kang was first indicted in 2019 for violating laws prohibiting public officials from meddling in elections. after officials from the Blue House's Senior Secretary to the President for Political Affairs office and high-ranking members of the National Police Agency's Intelligence Bureau were discovered to have documented the illegal election interference.

Additionally, from 2012 to 2016, Kang and his subordinates labeled opponents of the Park administration as "leftists" and illegally watched them, including left-leaning school superintendents, the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union and the special investigative team examining the Sewol Ferry disaster.

A district court first sentenced Kang to 14 months in prison, but an appellate court later suspended the sentence.

The court also upheld a suspended sentence for Lee Cheol-seong, who served as Kang's deputy commissioner, on charges related to the 20th general election.

In addition, Kim Sang-woon, former director of the National Police Agency Intelligence Bureau, Park Ki-ho, former National Police Agency Director General for Intelligence Planning, and Jeong Chang-bae, Senior Public Security Secretary, were all sentenced to eight months in prison with two years' probation for charges related to the 20th general election.

"We took into account that Kang did not commit the crime for personal gain and that he had already been detained and imprisoned for a considerable period," the court said.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]