[사회][취재N팩트] Two years and six months in prison for former Minister Kim Eun-kyung…

[앵커]

Former Environment Minister Kim Eun-kyung and Shin Mi-sook, former Blue House secretary, were convicted in the first trial yesterday, who were charged with the so-called’Ministry of Environment blacklist’ controversy.

In particular, former Minister Kim was the first person from the current government minister who was sentenced to jail and was arrested in court.

The current government, which criticized the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administration’s’blacklist’ case, seems to have repeated similar incidents, so it is likely to have a great impact.

Let’s connect reporters and listen to the story of this sentence in detail. Reporter Lim Seong-ho.

First of all, shall we revisit the first trial sentence for the’Ministry of Environment Blacklist’ held yesterday?

[기자]

Yes, the main story of this case is the suspicion that after the Moon Jae-in administration was inaugurated, the executives appointed during the Park Geun-hye administration were unfairly forced to resign in order to seat those appointed by the Blue House and the Ministry of Environment as subsidiaries.

On charges of leading this, former Minister Kim Eun-kyung, the first Minister of Environment of the current government, and former secretary Mi-sook Shin, who was a member of the Chief Personnel Office of the Blue House, were handed over to trial.

In the process, the prosecutor Han Chan-sik, Deputy Prosecutor Kwon Soon-cheol, and the 6th Detective Division Chief Joo Jin-woo, who were in charge of the investigation in the process, all were eliminated from promotions, or they took off their clothes in line after the delegation was issued.

In yesterday’s first trial, which was held after twists and turns, the court sentenced former Minister Kim to two years and six months in prison and imprisoned.

He also admitted the guilty of former secretary Shin, who was charged with him, and sentenced him to one year and six months in prison and three years probation.

A large part of the charges have been acknowledged for forcing executives of public institutions under the Ministry of Environment to resign or unfairly supporting certain nominees.

[앵커]

It took almost two years from the prosecution’s prosecution to yesterday’s first trial sentence.

What were the specific charges the court found guilty?

[기자]

Yes, right after the Moon Jae-in administration was launched, in the second half of 2017, the Blue House and the Ministry of Environment divided their shares and appointed certain individuals as executives of public institutions under the Ministry of Environment.

To this end, 15 executives of public institutions under the Ministry of Environment appointed during the Park Geun-hye administration were forced to resign, and 13 of them resigned.

Former Minister Kim Eun-kyung and former secretary Shin Mi-sook were handed over to trial for leading the process.

Former Minister Kim also ordered a’target audit’ specifically targeting executives who refuse to submit resignations, and the executive who felt pressure turned out to have finally resigned.

It has also been confirmed that former Minister Kim unfairly applied to the positions of the executives of affiliated agencies that would be vacant or vacant in the future so that nominees determined by the Blue House and the Ministry of Environment were selected as final candidates.

Ministry of Environment officials were asked to decorate the application documents instead, and in preparation for the interview, the Ministry of Environment internal data and expected questions were provided.

Nevertheless, when one nominee was eliminated, he was convicted of abuse of authority and obstruction of work, such as disqualifying 7 successful candidates of other documents that were normally screened.

Former secretary Shin, who was also prosecuted, was convicted after being accused of improperly supporting executives by ordering public officials from the Ministry of Environment.

[앵커]

Former Minister Kim appealed immediately after the ruling?

[기자]

Yes, after Kim was arrested in court, the lawyer filed an appeal immediately to the court.

Former Minister Kim’s defense counsel has stated that it cannot accept the court’s recognition of the facts and the application of the law.

Former Minister Kim has always denied charges during investigations and trials.

While the prosecution’s investigation was in full swing, our reporters met with former Minister Kim in person.

Let’s take a look at the atmosphere at that time.

[김은경 / 前 환경부 장관 : (표적감사 의혹 계속 제기되는데 전혀 지시하시거나 이런 사항 없으세요?) …. (청와대에서 아무런 연락 못 받으신 겁니까?) …. (앞서 본인은 인사권이 없다고 하셨잖아요.) …. (지금 채용비리 의혹까지 나오고 있잖아요. 전직 장관으로서 이 정도에서 어느 정도 입장 표명을 해주셔야죠.) ….]

[김은경 / 前 환경부 장관 : (장관님, 한 층 위입니다.) 찍지 말라고!]

At the trial, former Minister Kim has argued that his actions were simply a measure of placing people who shared the new government’s philosophy of state administration as executives.

Former secretary Shin also said that this incident occurred within the Ministry of Environment and did not know in detail, and showed the appearance of handing over the responsibility to the Ministry of Environment officials.

The first trial court condemned them and accused them of avoiding responsibility, saying that it was clear that officials from the Ministry of Environment could not do this without a supervisory order or approval.

[앵커]

After yesterday’s sentence, the Blue House hasn’t made a difference yet.

However, I once refuted that this case was qualitatively different from the’cultural blacklist’ during the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations.

How should I look?

[기자]

During the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations, the cultural blacklist was a list created to suppress and regulate cultural and artistic people who were unfriendly to the regime.

In particular, during the Park Geun-hye administration, more than 9,400 people from the culture and arts world, including literary men who declared the city state declaration of the Sewol ferry and cultural men who declared support for the opposition party, were put on the’black list’.

At the time, the Blue House took this point and emphasized that the allegations of the’Ministry of Environment blacklist’ were not civilian inspections.

He said that the documents on the resignation trend of executives under the Ministry of Environment are only’checklists’ prepared for management and supervision.

Some expressed dissatisfaction with attaching the negative image of the’blacklist’ to the current government’s personnel policy.

However, this court ruling was a direct refutation of the Blue House’s position that there was no problem.

The court pointed out that it could not find an example of receiving the resignation of officials from public institutions on a massive and deliberate basis like this case.

He also said that even if it was a practice, it was an obvious offense, and the harm was so severe that it could not be justified.

As a result, former Minister Kim was the first minister appointed by the Moon Jae-in government to be sentenced to imprisonment and held the dishonor of being imprisoned in court.

Even as the Moon Jae-in administration, which has been fiercely criticizing the former government’s blacklist case, the morality is inevitable.

This is YTN Seong-ho Lim at the Seoul Central District Court.

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