A total of 36 cases were filed in the two days since the so-called "trial appeal system," under which the Constitutional Court reconsiders court rulings, took effect.
According to legal sources on the 15th, a total of 36 petitions for trial appeal were filed over the two days from the 12th to the 13th, when the system was implemented. Of these, 23 were filed electronically, 5 in person, and 8 by mail. On the first day alone, 20 cases were reportedly filed.
The trial appeal system allows a constitutional complaint to be filed when there is a ruling contrary to a Constitutional Court decision or when fundamental rights are violated. If, based on the Constitutional Court's review, a court's judgment is found unconstitutional, the Constitutional Court cancels the judgment, and the court must retry the case in line with the Constitutional Court's decision. This is why critics say it effectively creates a "fourth-instance" system.
The petitioner in the first trial appeal case is a foreign national from Syria. It was filed at 12:10 a.m. on the 12th. After the Supreme Court in January finalized the cancellation of deportation and detention orders issued by immigration authorities, the petitioner filed a trial appeal, saying fundamental rights were violated.
The second case was filed by the family of the late Kim Dal-su, a "fisherman repatriated from abduction to the North." In a retrial in Jan. 2023, Kim was acquitted of espionage charges. The family then sought criminal compensation from the state, but when the court decided the compensation past the statutory deadline, they filed a state liability suit seeking payment of delayed interest. The first and second instances ruled against the plaintiffs, saying the provision was "merely admonitory," and the ruling was finalized on the 20th of last month when the family withdrew its appeal.
YouTuber "Gujeyeok" (real name Lee June-hee), who received a finalized three-year prison sentence from the Supreme Court for extorting money and valuables by threatening YouTuber "Tzuyang" (real name Park Jeong-won), also signaled a trial appeal. Attorney Kim So-yeon, Gujeyeok's legal representative, recently said on her social media (SNS), "I have been retained by Lee June-hee for matters including a trial appeal and a complaint for the crime of legal distortion," adding, "There were unconstitutional investigations and trials concerning evidentiary admissibility and evidentiary assessment. We are only grateful to the Democratic Party of Korea and President Lee Jae-myung for enabling us to correct this through the trial appeal and other measures."
Gujeyeok is not the only one. Yang Moon-seok, a former Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker whose seat was stripped after the Supreme Court finalized his conviction on loan fraud charges, also hinted at the possibility of filing a trial appeal. Jang Young-ha, the People Power Party's district chair for Seongnam-si Sujeong-gu, whose conviction for announcing false information was finalized, also expressed an intention to file a trial appeal.
The Constitutional Court expects 10,000 to 15,000 trial appeals to be filed annually. That would be three to four times more than before the system was introduced. The Constitutional Court plans to hold a seminar on the 20th to discuss how to operate the pre-screening division for trial appeals.