The presiding judge who sentenced child sex offender Cho Doo-soon to 12 years in prison after acknowledging mental and physical weakness due to intoxication has reportedly been practicing as a sex crime specialist attorney following his retirement.
According to Representative Kim Dong-ah of the Democratic Party of Korea, who serves on the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, the former senior judge surnamed Lee, who presided over the Cho Doo-soon case at the Ansan Branch of the Suwon District Court in 2009, joined a law firm in March of last year and has been working as a sex crime defense attorney.
The former senior judge reportedly promotes successful verdicts—such as securing fines in illegal filming cases and suspended sentences in sexual violence and prostitution cases—as success stories while charging high legal fees.
Following the Cho Doo-soon ruling, the former senior judge served as a family and juvenile law specialist judge and senior presiding judge at the Seoul Family Court, and was promoted to Chief Judge of the Gwangju Family Court in February 2020.
He even worked at the Family Court, which handles child and adolescent cases, during a time when controversy erupted over lenient punishment following the release of the film "Hope" (SOOWON), which was based on the Cho Doo-soon case.
In 2020, the year Cho Doo-soon was released from prison, he was also selected as an excellent judge by the Seoul Bar Association.
Representative Kim Dong-ah criticized the move, stating, "The judge who granted a sentence reduction to Cho Doo-soon by recognizing his mental weakness served as a family court president, and is now pursuing private profits by promoting sentence reductions and suspended sentences for sex crimes as success stories," adding that "this behavior makes the victim and the public cry twice."
Reported by Park Se-won | Video by Lee Da-in | Graphics by Lee Su-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
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