The first trial verdict on charges including aiding the leader of insurrection against former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will be broadcast live on the 21st.
The Criminal Agreement Division 33 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Jin-gwan) approved a request to broadcast live the first trial verdict for the former prime minister at 2 p.m. that day.
Accordingly, video filmed with the court's own equipment will be transmitted in real time through broadcasters. However, some delays may occur due to technical circumstances.
The former prime minister is accused of abetting the illegal declaration of martial law by failing to fulfill the duties of the vice chair of the Cabinet, which can preemptively check and control the president's arbitrary exercise of power.
On Dec. 5, 2024, former Presidential Secretariat Chief of Staff for Administrative Affairs Kang Ui-gu allegedly signed, along with former President Yoon and former Minister of the Ministry of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, a falsely prepared martial law declaration document intended to conceal procedural defects after the martial law declaration, and requested that it be destroyed.
He was also charged with perjury for testifying as a witness in the Constitutional Court's impeachment trial of the former President Yoon on Feb. 20 last year to the effect that he "did not recognize the martial law declaration document."
At the sentencing hearing held on the 26th of last month, the special prosecutor's team sought a 15-year prison term for the former prime minister. The special prosecutor's team said, "The defendant, as the No. 2 in the executive branch and prime minister, was virtually the only person who could stop the insurrection, yet abandoned the duty to serve the entire people and participated in the insurrection through actions before and after the martial law declaration."
In his final statement, the former prime minister said, "At the moment the president said a state of martial law would be declared, I suffered an indescribably enormous shock," and added, "My memory after that moment has no context and is unclear. Because it was something I could never agree to, I tried in every way to turn the president's mind, but it was beyond my power."
He continued, "Although I failed to stop the martial law, I never, under any circumstances, supported it or tried to help it," and said, "That is the most honest final confession I can offer in this historic courtroom today."