A Seoul appellate court has upheld the guilty verdict of a former naval officer who was convicted of bribery tied to a faulty rescue and salvage ship that failed to save lives during a deadly ferry sinking last year.
The former Navy lieutenant, identified only by his family name Jeong, was found guilty of receiving 308 million won ($275,000) between 2010 and 2012 from a parts supplier he helped win contracts to provide mooring equipment for the nation’s first rescue and salvage ship, the Tongyeong. The contracts were worth a combined 1.96 billion won.
“Jeong deserves a severe punishment because his actions could have undermined our military’s combat capability,” Judge Choi Jae-hyeong said Tuesday at the Seoul High Court said, adding the 46-year-old also damaged the public trust in the military.
Choi, however, commuted Jeong’s jail sentence from two years to one and a half years, considering he appeared genuinely remorseful and was motivated not by money, but his desire to maintain a good relationship with the parts supplier. He was also ordered to forfeit 280 million won.
The Tongyeong was found to be fraught with problems and unable to participate in rescue operations during the April 2014 ferry tragedy that killed more than 300 people.
Construction of the 3,500-ton ship began in 2012 after North Korea torpedoed the South Korean warship Cheonan in 2010. The aim was to enable the military to effectively carry out rescue operations and tow damaged vessels. (Yonhap)
