An appellate court sentenced former presidential secretary for civil affairs Woo Byung-woo to one year in prison, greatly reducing his sentence.

The Seoul High Court issued the verdict on Thursday, overturning previous rulings that had sentenced Woo to a total of four years in prison for abuse of power, dereliction of duty and violation of the presidential inspectors’ law. 

In a previous ruling issued in February 2018, Woo was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for neglecting his duty to look into wrongdoings committed by Choi Soon-sil, the confidante of former President Park Geun-hye. She was a central figure in the massive influence-peddling scandal that led to Park’s impeachment.

Later in December 2018, Woo was sentenced to 18 months in prison for carrying out illegal surveillance of public officials. Thus, the combined sentences from the first trials of the two cases totaled four years. 

The high court’s latest verdict came after it began deliberating both cases from March 2018. 

The appellate court didn’t place Woo under court custody as the former aide had previously spent a little over one year behind bars.

Woo was released from jail on January 2, 2019, after a local court rejected the prosecution's request to issue another detention warrant.

He had been behind bars for 384 days.