South Korea exonerates man accused of spying for the North – more than half a century after his execution

Oh Gyeong Mu was tricked into entering North Korea by elder half-brother who had vanished during the Korean War

More than 50 years after his execution, South Korea’s Supreme Court has exonerated a man who was wrongfully convicted of spying for North Korea in 1967.

At the end of a retrial held nearly 60 years after his execution, the highest court in the land upheld a lower court’s not guilty verdict for Oh Gyeong Mu.

Oh and his younger brother Kyung Dae were tricked into entering North Korea in 1966 by their long-lost elder half-brother Oh Gyeong Ji, who had vanished during the 1950-53 Korean War.

After undergoing 40 days of ideological indoctrination, the brothers returned to South Korea and voluntarily surrendered. However, they were falsely accused and tortured into confessing to espionage under the repressive regime of Park Chung Hee.

A separate retrial had earlier exonerated Kyung Dae as well as their sister Oh Jeong Sim of all charges.

Back in the 1960s, however, the siblings had been accused of acting as spies for North Korea and found guilty of espionage.

Oh was sentenced to death and executed in 1972 while Kyung Dae received a 15-year sentence. Their sister was convicted of aiding Oh’s espionage activities and given a three-year prison sentence, suspended for five years.

File. A protester holds a light stick reading 'justice' during a rally in Seoul on 4 April 2025 (AFP via Getty)

Retrials in recent years had cleared all three, with the courts acknowledging their confessions had been illegally obtained.

“It can’t be considered that a legally valid investigation was conducted on the accused and their confession of crime can be seen as unlawfully acquired evidence through cruelty such as illegal arrest,” the Seoul Central District Court ruled in 2023, dismissing the confessions as evidence of crime.

“The court would like to offer its deepest condolences to the brutality imposed on the family due to their actions conducted out of love of their family.”

The prosecution appealed the decision but both the appellate court and the Supreme Court upheld the ruling. The appellate court noted that Oh Gyeong Mu had met his older half-brother out of concern for their mother and to urge him to surrender, and concluded there was no evidence to suggest he intended to assist North Korea.