Interview with Yoo Woo-sung: “All I want is a normal life”

Yoo Woo-sung

The truth comes out eventually.

For Yoo Woo-sung, 34, a contractor for the city of Seoul who was falsely accused of espionage in February of 2013, 2013 was the year when falsehood triumphed, and 2014 was the year when the truth that had been hidden by that falsehood came to light.

Though numerous people have been framed as spies by the government since the establishment of the Republic of Korea, this was the only time that the truth has come out while the trial was still underway.

This past April, Seoul High Court cleared Yoo of the charge of violating the National Security Law. In October, the Seoul Central Regional Court found four National Intelligence Service agents and two assistants guilty of fabricating evidence in Yoo‘s case.

When the news broke about the stunt that South Korea’s supreme intelligence organization had tried to pull, the entire country was appalled.

But even though the truth has been revealed, Yoo still hasn’t gotten his life back. “The pressure and stress are the same as ever. My entire routine is oriented around my court dates,” he said.

When Yoo met a Hankyoreh reporter on Dec. 17 at Seoul National University of Education Metro Station, a gloomy expression was on his face. Once or twice a month, he has to go to court.

In addition to the still-pending Supreme Court trial, he also faces a trial on charges brought by the prosecutors, who are out for blood.

After Yoo was exonerated by the lower court, the prosecutors charged him in May with failing to report money he remitted to North Korea through China as a favor for North Korean refugees, which violated the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act.

This was a case that prosecutors had shelved after beginning an investigation in 2010.

Members of conservative organizations frequently hold protests in front of the offices of Lawyers for a Democratic Society (MINBYUN), which represented Yoo in his trial. Yoo feels bad that even the lawyer who defended him has to put up with this kind of behavior.

This past November, the prosecutors asked the Korean Bar Association to discipline Jang Kyung-wook, 46, a lawyer with MINBYUN, for violating his duty to “maintain the dignity of his profession.”

“Since the truth of this injustice has been brought to light, the prosecutors ought to apologize and to show that they are sorry, but instead they are carrying out more investigations to get revenge on me for humiliating them. Even after the truth came to light, conservative newspapers have stuck with their original position. Powerful organizations are too quick to exercise their power against the powerless. I don’t know if powerless individuals have any way to defend themselves,” Yoo said.

A few days ago, Yoo met the victims of the Samcheok spy ring, who were exonerated in a retrial held 35 years after their original conviction.

“They wanted to meet me. They told me that when they saw what I was going through, they were reminded of what they had endured and they could relate to it. It really hurt them that the same things were still happening all these years later,” Yoo said.

Recently, Yoo has resumed his graduate studies in social welfare. MINBYUN and others are helping him out with his tuition. When people see him, they assume he is a spy, which makes it hard to even find part-time work.

Even Yoo’s acquaintances rarely make time for him. Once every two weeks, he says he gets counseling for his depression. “I used to be really outgoing, but now I’m a lot more wary about seeing people. It’s exhausting to worry that people might get into trouble because of me, to wonder if my phone conversations are being recorded,” he said.

There’s just one thing that Yoo wants. “I don’t want any kind of compensation. I just wish that all of the facts could be brought to light once and for all so that I can go back to a normal life. When will I be able to rid myself of the label of being a defendant? I wish that no other innocent people have to suffer as I have.”

Officials wait for the arrival of a parliamentary investigation team at the main entrance to the National Intelligence Service headquarters in Seoul’s Naegok neighborhood.

　

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

http://h21.hani.co.kr/arti/society/society_general/38642.html　

Yoo Woo-sung

　

Officials wait for the arrival of a parliamentary investigation team at the main entrance to the National Intelligence Service headquarters in Seoul’s Naegok neighborhood.