"No clear danger to national security proven beyond reasonable doubt"

Charges stemmed from off-the-record remarks published in book

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Bu Seung-chan, indicted on charges of leaking military secrets obtained during his tenure as Defense Ministry spokesperson, arrives at the Central District Military Court in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday for his sentencing hearing. The court acquitted Bu that day. [Yonhap]
Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Bu Seung-chan, indicted on charges of leaking military secrets obtained during his tenure as Defense Ministry spokesperson, arrives at the Central District Military Court in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday for his sentencing hearing. The court acquitted Bu that day. [Yonhap]

A military court on Tuesday acquitted Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Bu Seung-chan, who had been indicted on charges of leaking military secrets he obtained while serving as Defense Ministry spokesperson under the Moon Jae-in administration.

The Central District Military Court held the sentencing hearing at its courthouse in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and delivered the not-guilty verdict.

The court said it could not find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that disclosing the military secrets at issue would have posed a clear risk to national security.

Military prosecutors referred Bu to trial without detention in July 2023 on charges of including in a book off-the-record remarks exchanged by senior South Korean and US officials at the 53rd Security Consultative Meeting, held in Seoul in December 2021. Prosecutors had earlier sought a five-year prison sentence at the closing arguments hearing in September.

Bu was appointed Defense Ministry spokesperson in December 2020, during the Moon administration, and served until April 2022 — one month before the Yoon Suk Yeol administration took office.

Bu has maintained that no military secrets were leaked in his book and has argued that the indictment was retaliation for his references to a fortune teller known as Cheon-gong. In the book, Bu disclosed accounts that Cheon-gong had visited the Army Chief of Staff's official residence and the Army's Seoul office within the Defense Ministry compound in April 2022, during the process of selecting a presidential residence.

Although Bu holds civilian status, the case was tried at a military court at the first-instance level because the Military Secrets Protection Act grants military courts jurisdiction over charges of leaking military secrets in the course of official duties.


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