The Korean Bar Association has begun a disciplinary inquiry into attorneys Lee Ha-sang and Kwon Woo-hyun, who represent former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, after they recently caused a disturbance in court and hurled profanities at a judge on a YouTube broadcast.
On the 26th, the association said in a media notice that it had initiated a disciplinary inquiry under Article 97 of the Attorney‑at‑Law Act on the association president's own authority. Earlier, the Seoul Central District Court asked the Korean Bar Association and the Seoul Bar Association to discipline attorneys Lee Ha-sang and Kwon Woo-hyun.
As grounds for discipline, the court cited that they refused to comply with the presiding judge's order to leave the courtroom issued to maintain order, thereby obstructing the court's proceedings and receiving a detention order, and that they repeatedly made personal attacks, including profanities directed at the presiding judge, on a YouTube broadcast.
Chun Dae-yup, head of the National Court Administration (Supreme Court justice), separately from the disciplinary request to the bar associations, filed a criminal complaint with the Seocho Police Station against the two attorneys on charges including contempt of court and defamation. The National Court Administration said it was a "serious wrongdoing against judicial authority and the entire judicial order."
Earlier, former Minister Kim appeared as a witness in a continued trial on charges including aiding the ringleader of insurrection against former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo. When the request by former Minister Kim's attorneys to be present as persons in a trust relationship was denied, they protested from the courtroom gallery and caused a disturbance, for which they were sentenced to 15 days of detention.
However, at the Seoul Detention Center, where the detention was to be carried out, the two attorneys refused to comply with an identity verification request by declining to state their names. The Seoul Detention Center decided to release them, saying it lacked the minimum information needed to execute the detention. They later appeared on a YouTube broadcast and criticized the presiding judge with profanities.
In connection with the two attorneys not being detained, the Ministry of Justice improved intake procedures, including how to verify the identity of persons subject to detention. Even if identity information for a person subject to detention is missing, if the person is identified by the court's ruling, identity verification was relaxed through documents such as a confirmation written by a court employee who hands the person over to a correctional officer.