The side of former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun filed four additional recusals against the court conducting the detention questioning of the former Minister today. The court dismissed all of them. Previously, the side of the former Minister also filed a recusal request to the same court on the 23rd, but the court rejected it on the 24th.
On the 25th, the 34th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Han Seong-jin) is continuing to hold a hearing at 10 a.m. on the arrest warrant for former Minister Kim, who has been additionally indicted on charges of obstructing official duties by deception and instructing destruction of evidence.
The legal team for the former Minister filed recusal requests four times on that day alone. In the morning hearing, Lee Ha-sang, the legal representative for the former Minister, said, "The special prosecutors' additional indictment of the former Minister is illegal from the start, and the court is complicit in this," and requested a recusal.
In response, the court stated, "It is evident that this is aimed at delaying the trial," and dismissed the recusal request.
When the side of the former Minister countered that they would file another recusal request, the court said it would "expeditiously dismiss (the recusal request)." If the court determines that the recusal request is made for the purpose of delaying the trial, it may dismiss the request expeditiously.
Afterward, the side of the former Minister made two additional recusal requests, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. The court dismissed these as well. In total, four recusal requests were made in one day.
Earlier, special prosecutor Jo Eun-seok, investigating the insurrection and foreign currency incidents related to former President Yoon Suk-yeol's '12.3 state of emergency,' additionally indicted former Minister Kim on the 18th for charges of obstructing official duties by deception and instructing destruction of evidence.
Former Minister Kim is accused of deceiving the Presidential Security Service to receive a clandestine phone on December 2, the day before the state of emergency, and handing it over to former Army Intelligence Command Commander Noh Sang-won. He is also accused of instructing his aide, Yang, who played the role of secretary, to destroy materials related to the state of emergency shortly after it was declared on December 5.
On that day, the side of the former Minister reiterated their claim that the additional indictment by the insurrection special prosecutors is illegal. The former Minister's lawyer stated, "The additional indictment is based on the same fundamental facts as those presented in another case raised in the 25th Criminal Division," adding, "This is an illegal indictment aimed at obtaining a warrant based on what was investigated in another case." The 25th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court is handling the first trial of former Minister Kim's charges of major duties related to insurrection.
The lawyer then claimed, "This separate indictment close to the expiration of the detention period is a typical abuse of prosecutorial authority," and added, "The piecemeal indictment was made to evade the expiration of the detention period."
On the other hand, Kim Hyung-soo, a deputy special prosecutor for the insurrection case, who appeared in court that day, remarked, "There are no legal defects as the special investigation team on the state of emergency was handed this case and recognized the offenses on the same day of the indictment." He further stated, "The court has repeatedly ruled on concerns regarding the former Minister's potential destruction of evidence, and there are no special circumstances to overturn this, and the risk of evidence destruction still appears to be valid."