The panel handling the case over allegations that former Ministry of National Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup fled has been changed. The decision came because the presiding judge of the previous panel attended the same university class as co-defendant Lee Si-won, former presidential office secretary for public discipline, making it hard to avoid misunderstandings about the trial's fairness.
The Seoul Central District Court said on the 4th that it reassigned the case from Criminal Division 34 (Presiding Judge Han Sung-jin) to Criminal Division 22 (Presiding Judge Cho Hyung-woo). Criminal Division 34, which initially handled the case, requested reassignment on its own, saying, "Because the presiding judge is a classmate in Seoul National University's law school public law department with defendant Lee Si-won, controversy over fairness could be raised," and the court accepted the request.
The newly assigned Criminal Division 22 is currently hearing the case of former 1st Marine Division Commander Lim Seong-geun, indicted by the Lee Myung-hyun special counsel team investigating the death of a Marine in the line of duty. The former division commander is on trial on charges of ordering an excessive search by sending soldiers into waist-deep water without safety gear at the flood site in Yecheon in July last year.
Criminal Division 22 also handled the first trial in the Daejang-dong development favoritism case and in October sentenced key figures, including Kim Man-bae, former Deputy Minister Yoo Dong-gyu, and attorney Nam Wook, to prison terms and took them into custody in court.
Earlier, the Lee Myung-hyun special counsel team indicted six key suspects in a sweeping move, including former President Yoon Suk-yeol and former Secretary Lee Si-won, as well as Cho Tae-yong, former director of the Office of National Security, Jang Ho-jin, former first deputy director of the Office of National Security, Park Sung-jae, former Minister of Justice, and Shim Woo-jung, former Vice Minister of Justice. They are accused of appointing Lee Jong-sup, former Minister, as ambassador to Australia and assisting his departure and return procedures to help him flee overseas while he was under pressure during the investigation into the "Sergeant Chae death case."