Former Presidential Security Service Chief Park Chong-jun, who was acquitted in the first trial on charges of deleting secure phone information of former President Yoon Suk Yeol and others following the December 3 emergency martial law incident, faces a demand for a three-year prison term in his second trial.

The sentencing is scheduled for 2:00 PM on October 14.

The special prosecution team led by special counsel Cho Eun-seok made the demand during the final appeal hearing for former Chief Park held today (the 15th) by the 12-2 criminal division of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Cho Jin-gu, Minah, and Lee Seung-chul).

The special prosecution team criticized, "What the defendant deleted was not ordinary material, but secure phone call logs that reveal the reality of the insurrection crime." They added, "It was deleted as soon as the insurrection investigation began, causing the evidence that needed to be preserved the most to disappear at the exact moment it needed preservation most."

Given that former Chief Park served as a police officer for 25 years, the prosecution noted that he knew how crucial mobile phone information is in criminal cases, and it could not be viewed as an act committed due to a momentary lapse in judgment.

The prosecution further rebuked, "Whenever unfavorable materials were submitted, the defendant changed his excuses and consistently sought to minimize his own responsibility," adding, "It is difficult to view him as genuinely admitting his wrongdoing and deeply reflecting on it."

Former Chief Park's defense counsel argued in response, "The defendant's actions did not stem from the intent to destroy evidence to obstruct the investigation into Yoon Suk Yeol's insurrection charges and his impeachment motion." They maintained, "It was a routine task performed in the course of carrying out duties as the head of the Security Service concerning security and maintenance of confidentiality."

In his final statement, former Chief Park pleaded, "Management regulations for secure phones, which were developed under the Moon Jae-in administration and first put to practical use under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, were not yet established at the time this incident occurred, and the working-level officials in the Security Service also had very low technical understanding." He added, "Claiming that the Security Service's measures at the time had the intent to destroy evidence is far from the material truth."

Former Chief Park was sent to trial in December of last year on charges of arbitrarily deleting the secure phone information of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, former First Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service Hong Jang-won, and former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Chief Kim Bong-shik via "remote logout" following the emergency martial law incident.

In May, the first-instance court ruled him not guilty, stating, "Looking back retrospectively, even if the measures were inadequate or there could have been a more desirable method, one cannot presume there was an intent to destroy evidence."

This was based on the rationale that former Chief Park deleted the information as part of security measures under circumstances where former President Yoon's secure phone ID and other details had been exposed.

Apart from this case, former Chief Park was indicted for obstructing the execution of an arrest warrant issued by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials against former President Yoon, and was sentenced to four years in prison in the first trial on the 9th, leading to his detention in court.

(Photo: Yonhap News)