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An appeal filed by Lim Dong-won, the former chief of the National Intelligence Service, and by other key figures was dismissed Friday. Lim and the other had been accused of playing a role in the ¡°cash-for-summit¡± scandal.
The Seoul High Court upheld the ruling of a lower court and sentenced Lim to a suspended 18-month prison term. Kim Yoon-kyu, the president of Hyundai Asan, was given a suspended sentence of one year.
Lee Geun-young, the former president of Korea Development Bank, and Park Sang-bae, the former vice president of the bank, were given suspended three-year term and a suspended two-year, six-month term, respectively. The two have been accused of illegally extending loans to Hyundai Asan.
The court said in the ruling that it was difficult to say that the arrangement of the summit between the two Koreas could be subject to a judicial judgment, because it was an act of governing with highly political traits. But the transference of money in the process could not be considered an act of governing, it added. The accused had clearly violated the law transferring the money, the presiding judge said.
The judge said that the lower court¡¯s ruling was fair, because the accused had violated the law in the process of remitting the money, even though Lim and other people had worked hard for the success of the summit and the reconciliation policy toward the North, and they could not defy the direction of Cheong Wa Dae.
(Jeon Su-yong, jsy@chosun.com )
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