The court's dismissal of the indictment against former Presidential General Affairs Secretary Yoon Jae-soon and People Power Party lawmaker Lim Jong-duk, who were put on trial over allegations of intervening in personnel appointments at the National Security Office during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, has been finalized.

As neither Special Counsel Cho Eun-seok's team nor the legal teams for former Secretary Yoon and lawmaker Lim appealed within the deadline, the first-instance court's dismissal of the indictment was finalized today (September 29).

The special counsel team stated that the decision was made considering the prompt clarification of the truth and the possibility of winning the appellate trial, and that the case has been transferred to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO).

On September 21, the first-instance court, Criminal Settlement Division 23 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Oh Se-yong), ruled that the case did not fall under the scope of investigation stipulated by the Special Counsel Act on the Insurrection.

The court concluded that the allegations of personnel intervention in the National Security Office lacked relevance in purpose and evidence to the Pyongyang drone incident, thereby falling outside the special counsel's investigative jurisdiction.

It further explained that because the special counsel team continued the investigation without transferring the case to another investigative agency, "the indictment was filed by an unauthorized investigative agency, making it unlawful in itself."

Lawmaker Lim is accused of abusing his authority and violating the State Public Officials Act by selecting Colonel A to serve as an officer in charge of drone weaponization dispatched to the National Crisis Management Center under the Security Office, following a request from former Secretary Yoon around September 2023 when Lim was serving as the Second Deputy Director of the National Security Office.

Former Secretary Yoon was also charged with violating the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.

According to the special counsel team's indictment facts, former Secretary Yoon called Lim Ki-hoon, then National Security Office Defense Secretary, to the presidential office in August 2023 and reportedly stated, "At the request of higher-ups, please allow Lieutenant Colonel A (currently a colonel) to work at the National Security Office. Colonel A's father is also close to the president."

Subsequently, lawmaker Lim received this solicitation content from former Secretary Yoon. While personnel dispatches to the National Security Office are typically conducted after the Ministry of National Defense receives recommendations of suitable candidates from the Army, Navy, and Air Force, investigations showed that an officer who was not on the recommendation list at the time was appointed by increasing the dispatch personnel quota by one.

Previously, the special counsel team had demanded a 5-year prison sentence for former Secretary Yoon and a 3-year prison sentence for lawmaker Lim.

(Photo: Yonhap News)