President Lee Jae Myung Posthumous Acquittal Remarks Highlight 'Belated Justice' for 1976 Execution

Justice delayed is justice denied, but what happens when it's delayed by half a century? On January 19, 2026, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung expressed profound regret over a court's decision to posthumously acquit a man executed in the 1970s on trumped-up charges of pro-North Korean activities.

President Lee Jae Myung Posthumous Acquittal and the Kang Eul-seong Case

According to Yonhap News, the Seoul Eastern District Court found the late Kang Eul-seong not guilty in a retrial of a security case dating back to the Park Chung-hee administration. Kang, a civilian Army employee, was executed in 1976 after being convicted of attempting to reconstruct a political organization under instructions from Pyongyang.

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Lee didn't hold back his criticism of the historical judicial system. He noted that while the correction of justice is "a hundred times better than not correcting it at all," the meaning is diminished when the victim's remains have long since vanished. He warned that similar injustices continue to occur even today, urging for systemic accountability.

State Apology and the Trend of Retrials

Following the ruling, the court issued a rare apology to Kang's bereaved family on behalf of law enforcement, acknowledging critical errors in the original 1970s investigation. Prosecutors confirmed they wouldn't appeal the decision, marking the latest in a series of posthumous acquittals for victims of the National Security Law from Korea's authoritarian era.