Year-End Courts on the Eve of a Storm... Yoon’s Insurrection Trial Nears End of Court Recess [This Week’s Trial Schedule]

[Financial News] As courts across the country enter a two-week winter recess starting on the 29th, major criminal trials—including the insurrection leadership case against former President Yoon Suk Yeol related to the December 3 Martial Law—are expected to reach a critical juncture before and after the recess. With closing arguments and first-instance verdicts for key defendants, including Yoon, scheduled in succession, the atmosphere is tense, as if on the eve of a storm.
According to the legal community on the 27th, most courts nationwide, including the Seoul Central District Court, will begin their winter recess from the 29th until January 9 next year. During this period, trials are suspended except for urgent cases. However, the 25th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (presided over by Judge Jee Kui-yeon) has scheduled intensive hearings for the insurrection case at the end and beginning of the year.
On the morning of the 29th, the court will hold a continued hearing in Yoon Suk Yeol’s insurrection leadership case and proceed with the examination of Jo Jiho, former Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, as a witness, following the previous session. Although there were plans to merge the cases involving former Commissioner General Jo and former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, the merger schedule will be determined later. On the 30th, Kim Yong-hyun will be examined as a witness, and the cases involving Jo and Kim on charges of participating in the insurrection are expected to proceed through separate hearings before being merged.
Yoon Suk Yeol’s case will effectively enter its final phase in early January next year. The court plans to conduct documentary evidence reviews on January 5 and 7, and on the 9th, hold the final hearing with the special prosecutor’s sentencing recommendation, the defense’s closing arguments, and the defendants’ final statements. As the number of defendants has increased to eight due to the merger, the final statements alone are expected to take considerable time. If the arguments conclude, the verdict is likely to be delivered in early to mid-February.
After the recess, verdicts in other cases prosecuted by the special prosecutor will follow. The 32nd Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (presided over by Judge Ryu Kyung-jin), which is hearing the case against former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min for alleged involvement in martial law, will hold its final hearing on January 12.
Additionally, the 35th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (presided over by Baek Dae-hyun) will deliver its first-instance verdict on January 16 in the case against Yoon Suk Yeol for 'obstructing arrest' and infringing on cabinet members’ deliberative rights. In this case, the special prosecutor has demanded a 10-year prison sentence for Yoon. The 33rd Criminal Division (presided over by Lee Jin-kwan), which is hearing charges against former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo for aiding the insurrection leader, is also scheduled to announce its verdict on January 21. The special prosecutor has requested a 15-year sentence in this case.
Meanwhile, the first-instance verdicts in the cases involving Kim Keon Hee, who was indicted for alleged stock price manipulation at SAMBU CONSTRUCTION and for receiving bribes and political funds related to the Unification Church, as well as Yoon Young-ho, former head of the Unification Church World Headquarters, and Kweon Seong-dong, a People Power Party lawmaker, are also scheduled for January 28.
scottchoi15@fnnews.com Choi Eun-sol Reporter