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The Supreme Court upheld the acquittal of three judges, who stood trial for their involvement in the judicial power abuse scandal during the previous Park Geun-hye administration.
The top court on Thursday dismissed the prosecution's appeal of an appellate court's acquittal of judges Shin Gwang-ryeol, Cho Ui-yeon, and Seong Chang-ho on charges of leaking classified information while on duty.
The judges were accused of reporting to the National Court Administration(NCA) on the prosecution's investigation into a large-scale judicial corruption case involving former Nature Republic CEO Jung Woon-ho in 2016.
According to prosecutors, the move was aimed at blocking an investigation into the alleged judicial corruption.
The lower courts didn't acknowledge systematic collusion within the judiciary, and didn't consider the divulged information as classified.
In upholding the rulings, the top court said the actions of the three judges did not constitute a classified information leak.