Former President Yoon Suk-yeol was additionally indicted on charges of obstructing arrest, among others, during a trial where the court instructed the special prosecutor, "The indictment is too verbose, so I command you to appropriately revise and amend it."
On the 19th, the 35th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Director General Baek Dae-hyun) held the first preparatory session for trial regarding former President Yoon's charges of obstruction of special public duty, abuse of authority, and fabrication of false public documents. Former President Yoon did not attend the trial.
The preparatory session for the trial is a procedure to confirm the defendant's position regarding the criminal charges and establish a plan for evidence investigation before the formal trial. Unlike the formal trial, there is no obligation for the defendant to attend.
During the trial, special prosecutor Park Eok-soo noted, "The defendant unilaterally declared an unconstitutional and illegal state of emergency on December 3rd last year, even though the required number of cabinet members was not met," and added, "After the state of emergency was lifted, in collusion with former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, he stored a document related to the state of emergency that was falsely created, and later ordered it to be arbitrarily destroyed."
Furthermore, Prosecutor Park claimed that former President Yoon directed the deletion of communication records from former Military Security Command Chief Yeo In-hyeong and others in preparation for the investigation, and mobilized the security office to prevent the execution of the arrest warrant by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials.
Former President Yoon's defense team denied all these charges.
Once the reading of the indictment was completed, the court remarked to the special prosecutor, "The indictment is too verbose; in particular, it seems unnecessary to include which high school the defendant attended and when they took the bar exam." It continued, "The section regarding abuse of authority contains interpretations of the law, but interpreting the law is the court's role," concluding that, "It seems inappropriate for the special prosecutor to include this in the indictment."
The court concluded the preparatory procedure for the trial that day and decided to move on to the formal trial. The formal trial is scheduled to take place on the 26th of the following month at 10 a.m.
Meanwhile, former President Yoon's side stated that it would be difficult to attend the additional indictment trial that day. When the court inquired about the defendant's attendance, Yoon's side replied, "The trial needs to be conducted throughout the day, but in the current situation, it is difficult to sit in one place for several hours and attend the trial," adding, "We are continually meeting and checking on the situation."