Courts nationwide at all levels will recess for two weeks for the winter vacation season. However, the insurrection trials of former President Yoon Suk-yeol and former Minister of the Ministry of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun will continue during the recess.
According to legal sources on the 28th, most courts across the country, including the Seoul Central District Court and the Seoul High Court, will enter the winter recess from the 29th to Jan. 9 next year. During the recess, civil, family, and administrative trials and hearing dates for criminal cases without detention generally will not be held, except for urgent or serious cases. However, if the bench deems it necessary, it can proceed with hearings.
Applications such as provisional attachments and injunctions, hearings for criminal cases with defendants in custody, and pre-arrest suspect interrogations will proceed as usual. Court operations such as case filings and assignment also will proceed normally.
Chief Judge Jee Kui-youn of Criminal Division 25 of the Seoul Central District Court will continue to hear, after consolidation procedures, the insurrection trials of the former president Yoon and the former Minister Kim, and former Korean National Police Agency Commissioner Cho Ji-ho. The bench will continue questioning on the 29th by calling former Commissioner Cho as a witness in the trial of the former president on charges of being the ringleader of the insurrection, and on the 30th will hold witness questioning in the case of the former Minister Kim.
The bench had originally planned on the 29th to consolidate the former president Yoon's case, the cases of former military officials including the former Minister Kim, and the cases of the police leadership including the former Commissioner Cho, but the consolidation timing was reportedly delayed due to witness examination schedules. After consolidation, the bench plans to hold closing arguments on the 5th, 7th, and 9th of next month to wrap up the trials. As the number of defendants increases to a total of eight, the closing hearing on the 9th is expected to take considerable time just for final statements.
The verdicts in the insurrection cases are expected to come in early to mid-February next year. The bench is said to intend to hand down the verdicts before the regular judicial personnel appointments scheduled for late February.
After the recess, verdicts are also scheduled in succession for other cases indicted by the special counsel. Chief Judge Baek Dae-hyun of Criminal Division 35 of the Seoul Central District Court will set the sentencing date for the 16th of next month in the case against the former president Yoon on charges including obstructing an arrest and infringing the deliberation authority of Cabinet members. The insurrection special counsel sought a 10-year prison term for the former president Yoon in this case.
Chief Judge Lee Jin-gwan of Criminal Division 33 of the Seoul Central District Court will deliver a verdict on the 21st of the same month in the case against former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on charges of aiding an insurrection ringleader and engaging in key duties related to insurrection. The insurrection special counsel reportedly sought 15 years in prison.
First lady Kim Keon-hee; former Unification Church World Headquarters chief Yoon Young-ho; and People Power Party lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong, who were indicted together over alleged lobbying on Unification Church pending issues and the receipt of money and political funds, will all receive first-instance verdicts on the 28th of next month.
Chief Judge Woo In-seong of Criminal Division 27 of the Seoul Central District Court will open the sentencing hearing at 2:10 p.m. that day on charges against Kim, including violations of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act and the Political Funds Act, and will follow at 3 p.m. with the sentencing hearing in the cases of the former headquarters chief Yoon and lawmaker Kweon. The Kim Keon-hee special counsel is maintaining the prosecution.