Supreme Court Upholds Acquittal of Former Lawmaker Lee Sang-jik in Eastar Jet Hiring Scandal

The Supreme Court has finalized the acquittal of former lawmaker Lee Sang-jik, who had been indicted on charges related to hiring irregularities at Eastar Jet.

The Supreme Court's First Division (Justice Cheon Dae-yeop presiding) confirmed the lower court's ruling today (June 25), finding no legal errors in the decision to acquit Lee, who was charged with obstruction of business and bribery.

Former Eastar Jet CEOs Choi Jong-gu and Kim Yu-sang, who were also indicted on charges of obstruction of business, had their respective sentences—a 10 million won fine and an acquittal—upheld by the second trial court.

A former official from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, identified as A, was also given a finalized sentence of six months in prison, suspended for one year, for soliciting the hiring of their child and providing favors to Eastar Jet.

Lee, along with former CEOs Choi and Kim, was indicted on charges of pressuring human resources staff to hire 147 applicants who failed to meet the required scores (76 of whom were ultimately hired) during Eastar Jet's regular recruitment process between November 2015 and March 2019.

Investigations revealed that applicants who had not submitted proper documentation, lacked required language test scores, or had not taken the required exams were among those who were ultimately hired.

The daughter of official A, who was responsible for allocating airport slots (takeoff and landing times) for private airlines at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, was also among the successful candidates.

It was found that A's daughter had been rejected twice during the document screening process for failing to meet language test requirements, but was ultimately hired following a re-evaluation.

Lee was initially sentenced to two years in prison by the first trial court, which found him guilty, but the second trial court overturned the decision and acquitted him.

The second trial court determined that Lee did not directly instruct the human resources staff regarding the hiring process, nor did he engage in any behavior or language that could be interpreted as the exercise of "force," such as threatening professional retaliation.

The court concluded that because there was no act that suppressed the free will of the human resources staff, the charge of obstruction of business by force under the Criminal Act could not be established.

The court also noted that Lee had legally utilized the company's internal referral system during the new employee recruitment process.

While the court found official A guilty, citing intent to receive bribes, it ruled that Lee's bribery charge was not guilty, stating that it was not proven that Lee was aware of the hiring of A's daughter.

For the same reasons, the second trial court also acquitted former CEO Kim.

Regarding former CEO Choi, the court found him guilty of exercising force in the hiring process of certain applicants, but reduced his sentence from the first trial's one year and two months in prison, suspended for two years, to a fine.

The Supreme Court ruled that there were no errors in the second trial court's interpretation of the law regarding the "exercise of force" in obstruction of business cases.

Lee is currently serving a six-year prison sentence finalized by the Supreme Court in April 2023 for embezzlement and breach of trust involving tens of billions of won at Eastar Jet.

In April of this year, he received an additional two-year prison sentence for breach of trust, as it was determined that he used Eastar Jet's ticket sales revenue to fund the establishment of Thai Eastar Jet, a Thai airline.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.