SEOUL
South Korea’s Supreme Court has returned to a lower court a ruling that sentenced a former spy chief to three years jail for meddling in the 2012 election.
The court rejected Thursday evidence that resulted in the conviction earlier this year of Won Sei-hoon, who headed the National Intelligence Service from 2009 to 2013.
In February, the Seoul High Court had ruled that Won had “willfully neglected” a 780,000-post online campaign aimed at the rivals of victor South Korean President Park Geun-hye.
Lee Dong-myung, Won’s lawyer, was quoted by local news agency Yonhap as saying Thursday: "While it is disappointing that the court did not give a ruling today, we think it was a logical decision to deny the evidence submitted by prosecutors."
The Seoul High Court’s decision had overturned that by a district court last September that decided that Won only intervened in politics rather than the election itself. It had handed him a suspended prison term – prompting anger among political opponents.
Kim Young-keun, opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy spokesperson, had said at the time that the ruling “doesn’t make sense.”
Allegations concerning the online campaign had circulated before the 2012 vote, but intensified only after Park’s victory following a police recommendation to indict several officials.
Won, who was also recently jailed for receiving bribes, was among five NIS members to be subsequently indicted in June 2013.
In 2012, Park won the election against Moon Jae-in from the main opposition by just 3.5 percentage points despite the goings-on at the NIS.
