Cho Kuk confirms national compensation for ‘National Intelligence Service illegal inspection’… Receive 10 million won

Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye claim illegal surveillance by the National Intelligence Service. File suit for 200 million won in damages against the state. 1st trial: “50 million won in compensation” → 2nd trial: “10 million won” Law: “MB government’s NIS inspection, statute of limitations complete” Compensation confirmed by Supreme Court dismissal of hearing

In a lawsuit filed against the state for damages filed by Cho Kuk, the leader of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, claiming that he was subjected to illegal surveillance by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) during the past regime, a court ruling was confirmed requiring the state to compensate Cho Cho for 10 million won.

According to the legal community on the 26th, the 3rd Division of the Supreme Court (Chief Justice Oh Seok-jun) confirmed the dismissal of the lower court, which ruled in favor of some of the plaintiffs in the appeal trial of the damages claim filed by Representative Cho against the state the previous day. Accordingly, CEO Cho received compensation of 10 million won from the government and interest on delay.

Previously, CEO Cho posted on his social network (SNS) in June 2021, “As a result of a request for disclosure of data on past surveillance and operational activities conducted by the National Intelligence Service against me, I received a decision to ‘partially disclose’.” Some data from March to July 2016 was released.

According to Representative Cho, the National Intelligence Service at the time defined Representative Cho as a ‘pro-North Korea leftist’ and ‘an enemy of the Republic of Korea’ and established ‘an action strategy to pressure Seoul National University to control and force Professor Cho Kuk to resign.’ He is also said to have obtained information about his daughter Jo Min and used it as an excuse to attack.

Regarding this, Representative Cho’s side said, “Based on what has been confirmed, the National Intelligence Service clearly violated the National Intelligence Service Act by interfering in domestic politics beyond the authority granted by law, being loyal to a specific regime rather than the people, and abusing its power to suppress those who criticize the regime.” insisted.

Representative Cho’s side claimed 200 million won in damages from the state for psychological damage, saying, “The entire NIS organization systematically carried out anti-constitutional illegal acts strategically and as public duties.”

The Seoul Central District Court, which took charge of the first trial, acknowledged the illegal activities of the National Intelligence Service and ruled that the state should compensate Representative Cho 50 million won.

The court said, “This case is an act by an official of the National Intelligence Service, where political involvement is strictly prohibited, systematically violating the plaintiff’s basic human rights by taking advantage of the National Intelligence Service’s characteristic of being secretive,” and added, “It is treated differently from general illegal acts that occur in the course of ordinary official duties.” “It seems like it should be done,” he said.

He continued, “The need to suppress and prevent the recurrence of similar incidents must also be considered an important factor in calculating alimony,” and “Considering the extent of the infringement on reputation and privacy suffered by the plaintiff due to the illegal acts in this case, an alimony of 50 million won is reasonable. “It seems like it does,” he said.

The appellate court also acknowledged the illegality of the National Intelligence Service’s past surveillance activities, but the amount of compensation was partially reduced as it ruled that illegal inspections that occurred during the Lee Myung-bak administration were not liable for compensation as the statute of limitations had expired.

The appellate court ruled that the NIS’ collection activities were illegal on the grounds that ▲the NIS prepared the document from the perspective of inspection rather than simply collecting neutral information about the plaintiff, and ▲that it is difficult to consider it as falling within the scope of the NIS’ work.

However, the court said, “The last document related to the actions of the National Intelligence Service under the Lee Myung-bak administration was written in May 2011,” and “This lawsuit was filed in June 2021, several years later.”

The current civil law stipulates that ‘the right to claim compensation for damages due to an illegal act is extinguished by statute of limitations if the victim or his/her legal representative does not exercise it for three years from the date of knowledge of the damage and the perpetrator’, but it is judged that the lawsuit was filed beyond this. .

[서울=뉴시스]