Prosecutors are seeking a four-year prison term for a former police commissioner on charges of orchestrating cyber schemes to manipulate public opinion in favor of the former Lee Myung-bak administration.
In the final hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court against former National Police Agency Chief Cho Hyun-oh on Friday, the prosecution said the requested imprisonment for Cho is necessary as a wake-up call regarding police abuse of power.
Cho is accused of mobilizing police personnel to put up around 37-thousand posts online that were favorable towards the Lee administration while he was working as police commissioner and Seoul police chief between January of 2010 and April of 2012.
The alleged online postings were made in response to major issues that cast the Lee administration in a negative light, such as the deadly sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan in 2010 and the free trade agreement between South Korea and the U.S.