Top court upholds acquittal of ex-immigration official in travel ban case
Published: 05 Jun. 2025, 16:40
![Lee Kyu-won, left, the minor Rebuilding Korea Party's spokesperson; Rep. Cha Gyu-geun, center, and Lee Gwang-cheol, former presidential civil affairs secretary during the Moon Jae-in presidency, leave the Seoul High Court in southern Seoul after a hearing on Nov. 25, 2024. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/06/05/726d371e-213a-4f70-82ed-13e7a11b4b58.jpg)
Lee Kyu-won, left, the minor Rebuilding Korea Party's spokesperson; Rep. Cha Gyu-geun, center, and Lee Gwang-cheol, former presidential civil affairs secretary during the Moon Jae-in presidency, leave the Seoul High Court in southern Seoul after a hearing on Nov. 25, 2024. [NEWS1]
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the acquittal of a former chief of the Korea Immigration Service charged with approving an illegal travel ban on a former vice justice minister in 2019.
The top court confirmed the not-guilty verdict for Cha Gyu-geun, currently a lawmaker of the minor Rebuilding Korea Party, citing no errors in the previous ruling.
Cha was indicted in 2021 on abuse of power and other charges in connection with the travel ban imposed on former Vice Justice Minister Kim Hak-ui in March 2019. At that time, prosecutors sought to reinvestigate allegations that the former vice minister received bribes, some in the form of sexual services, from a businessman more than a decade ago.
Cha, who served as the commissioner of the Korea Immigration Service during former President Moon Jae-in's administration, was accused of approving the exit ban despite being aware that the prosecution requested it using fabricated documents.
The district and appeals courts both acquitted Cha, saying abuse of power charges cannot stand given the urgency of the situation at the time.
The Supreme Court also upheld the acquittals of Lee Kyu-won, a former prosecutor accused of fabricating the documents, and Lee Gwang-cheol, a former presidential civil affairs secretary under Moon who was accused of supervising the incident.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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