The Supreme Court will rule next week on former President Yoon Suk-yeol, who was indicted on charges including obstructing the execution of an arrest warrant by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. It is the first ruling on appeal among Yoon's cases related to the Dec. 3 martial law.
According to legal sources on the 2nd, the Supreme Court's Third Division (presiding Justice Lee Sook-yeon) will hold a sentencing hearing at 2 p.m. on the 9th in the appeal of former President Yoon, who was indicted on charges including obstruction of special official duties and abuse of power to obstruct the exercise of rights. The Supreme Court assigned the case to the Third Division on May 20. The panel consists of Justices Lee Heung-gu, Oh Seok-jun, Noh Kyung-pil, and Lee Sook-yeon.
Prosecutors say Yoon mobilized civil servants of the Presidential Security Service in Jan. last year to obstruct the CIO's execution of an arrest warrant. He is also accused of convening only some Cabinet members immediately before the Dec. 3 martial law proclamation, infringing on the deliberation rights of the other Cabinet members.
The indictment also includes charges that after martial law was lifted, he drafted and destroyed a backdated proclamation and ordered the deletion of secure phone call logs of figures including former Defense Counterintelligence Command chief Yeo In-hyung. He was additionally charged with drafting and disseminating a press guide (PG) to foreign media that contained false information to the effect that "access to the National Assembly was not blocked."
In the first trial in Jan., the court found him guilty of infringing the deliberation rights of seven Cabinet members, drafting and destroying a backdated martial law proclamation as false official documents, ordering the deletion of secure phone call logs, and obstructing the CIO's execution of an arrest warrant, and sentenced him to five years in prison.
On Apr. 29, the appellate court additionally found some charges guilty. It newly recognized the infringement of deliberation rights for two Cabinet members who received notice of the Cabinet meeting but arrived late and could not attend. The first trial had found guilt only for infringing the deliberation rights of seven Cabinet members who did not receive notice of the meeting.
The charges related to false public communications to foreign media were also changed to guilty on appeal. The appellate panel determined the conduct was an attempt to conceal wrongdoing in the process of proclaiming martial law. It also noted that providing incorrect information to foreign media about the legality of the martial law proclamation could negatively affect South Korea's external credibility and the public's right to know.
As some charges were changed to guilty, Yoon's sentence increased from five years in the first trial to seven years on appeal. However, the appellate court maintained the first trial's not-guilty verdict on the charge of exercising a false official document related to the backdated martial law proclamation.
Key issues for the Supreme Court appear to be the legal analysis of the charges related to infringement of Cabinet members' deliberation rights and false public communications to foreign media that the appellate court additionally recognized, and whether the charge of obstructing the CIO's execution of an arrest warrant is established. If the Supreme Court affirms the lower court's ruling, Yoon's seven-year prison sentence will be finalized. If it reverses and remands, the case will return to the appellate court for further review.