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SEOUL, Oct. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s Supreme Court has upheld the acquittal of four former National Intelligence Service investigators accused of illegally recording private conversations during a domestic surveillance operation nearly a decade ago.
The court affirmed a lower ruling last month that cleared the men of violating the country’s telecommunications privacy law, according to legal officials on Sunday.
The case centered on a 2015 sting in the city of Seosan, where agents had received a tip that members of a suspected underground revolutionary group were meeting at a campsite.
Investigators placed a covert recording device inside a caravan to monitor the gathering. The device also captured conversations of civilians unrelated to the alleged subversive activity.
Under South Korean law, an individual who is a party to a conversation may record it without consent. Secretly recording discussions between others, however, is a criminal offense.
South Korea’s Supreme Court (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
A district court initially found the agents guilty, concluding they were aware that unrelated civilians might be inadvertently recorded and imposed suspended prison terms.
An appeals court reversed the decision, ruling that the officers believed the space would be kept free of outsiders and thus lacked intent to eavesdrop unlawfully. The court also questioned the credibility of the informant who later revealed the operation in 2019 and alleged retaliation motives.
Prosecutors appealed, but the Supreme Court dismissed the case, letting the acquittals stand.
The investigation gained attention amid heightened scrutiny of intelligence practices spanning the administrations of former Presidents Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in.
Jerry M. Kim (jerry_kim@koreabizwire.com)
