Credit: Yonhap
A DA inspector accused of leaking details from the late actor Lee Sun Kyun ’s drug probe has pleaded not guilty, insisting the information he shared was not officially confidential.
His defense attorney admitted to the facts of the case but argued his client’s actions did not technically violate the law. “The defendant is not legally classified as a ‘handler of the information,’ and the content he leaked was not an official secret obtained through his duties,” the lawyer said.
Background of the Leak
The DA inspector is accused of providing a local newspaper reporter with internal police information about Lee’s drug case on two occasions in October 2023.
On October 19th, 2023, the newspaper ran an exclusive story with the headline, ‘Top Star Mr. L Under Internal Investigation for Drug Allegations.’ Lee had been officially named a suspect just days earlier on October 14th, 2023, and was interrogated by police three times. He was found dead on December 27th, 2023.
Following his death, a separate police agency launched an inquiry into how details of the probe were leaked to the press. This led to raids on both the newspaper’s office and the prosecutor’s office. While both the DA inspector and the reporter were initially sent for indictment, prosecutors ultimately decided not to charge the reporter, citing insufficient evidence of “malicious intent” under the Personal Information Protection Act.
A Separate Case and Current Status
This trial is separate from another leak case involving a former police inspector, who was also indicted along with a reporter for leaking investigation progress reports about Lee to the media.
The DA inspector has since been suspended and faces internal disciplinary action, while the former police inspector has reportedly been dismissed from duty.
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