Seoul High Court Sentences Former PSS Chief to One Year for Deleting Secure Phone Data
Seoul High Court reversed a lower court's not-guilty ruling, sentencing former PSS chief Park Jong-joon to one year for deleting secure-phone data linked to former President Yoon Suk Yeol and others.
An appellate panel in Seoul overturned the previous acquittal of Park Jong-joon, the former head of the Presidential Security Service, and sentenced him to one year in prison for destroying evidence by deleting data from secure phones. The deletions affected devices used by former President Yoon Suk Yeol, former National Intelligence Service official Hong Jang-won, and former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency chief Kim Bong-sik after the December 2024 martial-law declaration.
The court rejected the lower court’s finding of not-guilty and noted possible intent to conceal evidence. Prosecutors, led by special counsel Cho Eun-suk, had requested a three-year term. Park is also being held in a separate case for obstructing investigators’ attempt to detain Yoon in January 2025, with a related appellate decision due on Oct. 28.
Why it matters
The ruling highlights legal accountability for tampering with evidence involving senior government officials.
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