Cho Eun-suk special counsel team is said to plan to appeal the first-trial sentence of life imprisonment for former President Yoon Suk-yeol on the charge of being the ringleader of insurrection.
According to legal sources on the 23rd, Cho's special counsel team held a meeting at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office that day and, after analyzing the former president Yoon's first-trial written judgment, tentatively decided to appeal on the grounds of unjust sentencing and misinterpretation of law. At the meeting, opinions reportedly emerged that they could not accept the court's finding that the decision time to declare the "Dec. 3 emergency martial law" was Dec. 1, 2024.
The Criminal Agreement Division 25 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Jee Kui-youn) on the 19th judged in the sentencing hearing for the former president Yoon's charge of being the ringleader of insurrection that the Dec. 3 emergency martial law constituted insurrection under the Criminal Act and sentenced life imprisonment. It found that on Dec. 1, two days before the martial law, the decision to declare martial law was made and the details were entrusted to former Minister of the Ministry of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun. The special counsel team's indictment that preparations for martial law had been underway before Oct. 2023 was rejected.
The special counsel team is also said to have decided to appeal the first-trial sentences of former Minister of the Ministry of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun and former Defense Security Command chief Noh Sang-won, among others. Former Minister Kim was sentenced to 30 years in prison on charges including exercising important duties in insurrection and abuse of authority obstructing the exercise of rights. Former Commander Noh was sentenced to 18 years, former Korean National Police Agency Commissioner General Cho Ji-ho to 12 years, former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Kim Bong-shik to 10 years, and former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency National Assembly Guard Chief Mok Hyun-tae to 3 years.