Former NIS Director Cho Tae-yong gets 2.5 years in prison on retrial for martial law charges

A Seoul appeals court has increased the prison sentence for former National Intelligence Service Director Cho Tae-yong to two years and six months, along with a disqualification from public office for the same period. The ruling comes after Cho was found guilty on retrial for charges stemming from the December 12, 1979, military coup.

The appellate court found Cho guilty of perjury and evidence tampering, charges that had resulted in acquittals in the first trial. These new convictions contributed to the harsher sentence, which is one year longer than the initial 18-month sentence. In the first trial, Cho was convicted of perjury for denying receiving martial law documents from former President Yoon Suk-yeol during Yoon's constitutional court impeachment trial and for submitting a false response to the National Assembly.

Cho faced accusations of dereliction of duty and violating the National Assembly Testimony and Inspection Act for failing to report the martial law declaration plan and the alleged deployment of martial law troops to apprehend political figures like Lee Jae-myung and Han Dong-hoon. He was also indicted for violating political neutrality by providing CCTV footage of a former NIS official's movements on the day of the martial law to the People Power Party.

Further charges included perjury at the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court, and conspiring with former Presidential Security Service Director Park Jong-joon to destroy evidence, such as deleting records from a secure phone. The increased sentence reflects the appellate court's broader view of Cho's culpability in these matters.