SEOUL — Fifty-eight years after a flawed conviction shocked the global arts community, a South Korean appellate court is set to rule on the high-profile retrial of the late world-renowned composer Isang Yun. The case stems from the infamous "East Berlin Affair" of 1967, widely documented as one of the most egregious mass espionage fabrication scandals engineered by South Korea's authoritarian military government.

During the final retrial hearing at the Seoul High Court on Tuesday, defense attorneys fiercely urged judges to acquit Yun posthumously. Legal representatives argued that the original conviction relied entirely on forced confessions extracted through brutal interrogation tactics by the former Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA).

"Spies were not born out of Pyongyang; they were manufactured right here in Namsan and the intelligence agency by exploiting human beings' most primal fears," the defense team stated during closing arguments, referencing the notorious hill in Seoul where the KCIA headquarters once stood.

The historical case began in 1967, when the Park Chung-hee regime alleged that nearly 200 South Korean expatriates and students living in Europe—including prominent cultural figures like painter Lee Ung-no and poet Chun Sang-byung—had operated as an underground spy ring linked to North Korea. Isang Yun, who was then enjoying a brilliant musical career in Germany, was abducted by South Korean agents, forcibly repatriated, and subsequently tried.

Although initially handed a life sentence that was later reduced to 10 years after a Supreme Court remand, Yun was released in 1969 following intense diplomatic pressure and advocacy from the West German government. He spent the rest of his life in Berlin, acquiring German citizenship, and passed away in 1995 without clearing his name in his homeland.

Despite a 2006 investigation by a state truth commission which officially concluded that the Park administration had drastically inflated the East Berlin incident for political purposes, prosecutors in the current retrial maintained a cautious stance. State prosecutors acknowledged past unlawful detentions but argued that portions of Yun's historical actions—including trips to Pyongyang and interactions with North Korean officials—warranted a partial conviction, ultimately demanding a three-year prison term and suspension of civil qualifications.

The defense lambasted the prosecution's persistence, accusing authorities of attempting to shield historical state violence. Lawyers emphasized that the courts of the 1960s operated under direct pressure from the Blue House and armed intelligence officers inside the courtroom, rendering any historical "confessions" legally and morally void.

The Seoul High Court has scheduled the final verdict for November 24, bringing closure to a decades-long pursuit of justice by Yun’s grieving family, who secured a formal retrial decision in 2023.

[ⓒ Global Economic Times. 무단전재-재배포 금지]