Former National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Choi Tae-yong was sentenced to two years and six months in prison, along with a two-year and six-month suspension of qualifications, for violating the National Intelligence Service Act by spreading false information related to former President Yoon Suk-yeol's order to arrest politicians after the declaration of martial law. The second trial ruled that Choi, the former director, spread false information because he did not believe the testimony of Hong Jang-won, the former first deputy director of the NIS. However, he was acquitted of dereliction of duty. Additionally, Choi, the former director, received further guilty verdicts for making false statements to the National Assembly's special committee investigating the truth about the charges of insurrection and to the Constitutional Court. The court strongly reprimanded Choi, the former director, for abusing his position as a high-ranking public official to destroy evidence and undermine political neutrality.
