🧾 Case Overview

The Seoul Administrative Court ruled that prosecutors must disclose certain special activity fund records.

A civic group won a lawsuit challenging the prosecution’s refusal to disclose information.



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📌 Key Facts

The civic group requested disclosure of:

Monthly special activity funds used by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office

Specifically:

– Allocated amount (income)

– Spent amount (expenditure)

– Remaining balance



The prosecution refused disclosure:

– Citing the Information Disclosure Act

– Arguing it could harm ongoing investigations and official duties




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⚖️ Legal Issue

– Whether these financial details qualify as:

– Non-disclosable information related to investigations and criminal proceedings




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🏛️ Court’s Decision

– The refusal to disclose was unlawful

– The court ordered cancellation of the non-disclosure decision



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🧠 Court’s Reasoning

– Not all information in special activity fund records is automatically confidential

– Each piece of information must be assessed individually

– The requested data (totals like income, spending, balance):

❌ Does not reveal:

Specific investigations

Targets or methods

Operational details


❌ Does not significantly hinder prosecutorial duties


Therefore:

It does not meet the legal standard for non-disclosure




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💡 Key Takeaways

✔️ Government agencies cannot broadly classify financial records as secret

✔️ Transparency can be required if disclosure does not meaningfully harm operations

✔️ Courts favor case-by-case analysis, not blanket secrecy

Article: https://www.lawtimes.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=217640