Special counsel seeks 7-year prison term for ex-spy chief in perjury appellate trial

A special counsel team on Monday requested a seven-year prison term for former National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Cho Tae-yong in his appellate trial. The charges stem from allegations of giving false testimony concerning former President Yoon Suk Yeol's attempted imposition of martial law.

The prosecution team, led by special counsel Cho Eun-suk, made the sentencing request at the Seoul High Court. The trial also encompasses charges of dereliction of duty for failing to report Yoon's order to arrest politicians to the National Assembly, as well as charges related to drafting and using false public documents and destruction of evidence. These alleged actions all took place around December 3, 2024, the date of Yoon's martial law declaration.

The special counsel team had previously recommended the same seven-year sentence during Cho's initial trial. However, the lower court convicted him of perjury for testifying to the Constitutional Court that he had not received martial law-related documents from Yoon at the time of its declaration, and for making similar claims in official NIS documents. He received a 1 1/2-year prison sentence for this conviction, while being acquitted of other charges like dereliction of duty and evidence destruction.

During Monday's hearing, the special counsel team reiterated their call for a harsher sentence, asserting that Cho attempted to justify the martial law declaration and sought to conceal Yoon's directive to arrest key politicians.