The Seoul High Court’s Administrative Division 3 ruled in favor of the plaintiff, ordering the disclosure of internal operating regulations following an appeal related to the President’s Office’s legal response against allegations involving First Lady Kim Kun-hee.
On the 14th, the court decided in favor of the plaintiff, the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, in a lawsuit against the refusal of information disclosure by the Presidential Secretariat, mirroring the outcome of the first trial.
Previously, the President’s Office filed a defamation complaint against Kim Eui-gyeom, former Democratic Party of Korea member, who had raised allegations of stock manipulation involving Kim Kun-hee in January of last year. In response, the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy questioned whether the legal advisory office of the presidency could file such a complaint on a personal issue related to the First Lady and requested information disclosure regarding the presidential office’s operating regulations.
However, the President’s Office decided not to disclose the regulations, citing potential security concerns and the possibility of harming fair duty execution. The first trial court had ruled that it was difficult to acknowledge any disruption to duties and emphasized that how each department within the Presidential Secretariat processes tasks is a matter of public interest that requires citizen oversight and control, thus ordering the disclosure.