Former executives of the Presidential Security Service, indicted for blocking the execution of an arrest warrant for former President Yoon Suk-yeol, were sentenced to prison terms at the first trial and were taken into custody in court.

The 26th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Hyun-kyung) on the 9th sentenced former Presidential Security Service chief Park Jong-joon to four years in prison and former deputy chief Kim Seong-hun to five years for obstruction of special official duties and other charges. Former head of the Security Headquarters Lee Gwang-woo, who was tried alongside them, received two years and six months, and former Family Protection Division head Kim Shin was sentenced to one year, suspended for two years.

The bench issued detention warrants for former chief Park, former deputy chief Kim, and former headquarters head Lee, who received prison terms.

They were indicted on charges of blocking investigators from entering by, among other methods, setting up vehicle barricades outside the residence when the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials and the police attempted to execute an arrest warrant for former President Yoon in January last year. Former deputy chief Kim also faces a charge of ordering the deletion of secure-phone call logs of three military commanders at the direction of former President Yoon.

The court found the Presidential Security Service executives guilty on most charges. Only regarding former division head Kim, the lowest-ranking among them, it found some charges not guilty, stating that collusion with the other defendants and the like had not been sufficiently proven.

The court found that they followed the unlawful order of former President Yoon Suk-yeol even though they clearly knew that ‘blocking the execution of a warrant by an investigative agency is illegal conduct’. Citing, among other things, that former chief Park and former deputy chief Kim had been repeatedly briefed by the legal officer of the Presidential Security Service that there was ‘no basis to block the arrest warrant’, and that investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials attempting to execute the warrant presented the original warrant and repeatedly notified them that ‘it is illegal to block the execution of the warrant’, yet the Presidential Security Service did not back down, the court said, “It is hard to see that the defendants made earnest efforts to avoid unlawful conduct”.

The court also rejected the argument that blocking the execution of a warrant is part of protective operations. The court stated, “Protection means activities such as removing threats to the person and patrolling specific areas to safeguard the life and property of the protectee, and the lawful execution of a warrant cannot be deemed a threat to the person of Yoon Suk-yeol”, adding, “While the need to uncover the substantive truth through execution of the warrant was high, it is difficult to see that there was a risk of seriously harming the national interest, so (the defendants) had no grounds to refuse execution of the warrant”.

The court then explained its reasons for sentencing, stating, “The crimes of the defendants are serious offenses that used the chain of command of the state institution known as the Presidential Security Service to block execution of the warrant over a long period”, and, “By systematically obstructing the investigation and judicial procedures concerning Yoon Suk-yeol, who had been an insurrection suspect, they brought about a result in which the legal order and its functions were hollowed out”.

Meanwhile, former President Yoon, who had instructed them that ‘the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials warrant is illegal, so it must be blocked’ and was indicted on charges including infringing the authority of Cabinet ministers to deliberate on martial law, had a seven-year prison term finalized by the Supreme Court on this day.