The former chief of staff of former President Park Geun-hye has been acquitted of charges of manipulating reports about the briefings given to the president on the day of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster. 

The Seoul High Court on Wednesday found Kim Ki-choon not guilty of falsifying official documents, reversing his sentence of one year in prison, suspended for two years.

Kim was put on trial in March of 2018 for allegedly submitting an altered timeline of Park’s briefing on the ferry sinking on April 16, 2014 to the National Assembly.

Both lower courts handed down the prison term after ruling that Kim's written response, in which he claimed that he believed Park had been fully aware of the situation at the time, constituted false documentation.

The Supreme Court, however, remanded the rulings in August of this year, saying Kim's response was an expression of his subjective opinion.

The top court noted that the response included details factually corroborated by the National Security Office, such as the number of briefings, their time and method.