First Trial Verdict on Yoon’s Alleged Obstruction of Arrest to Be Broadcast Live Today...First Ruling on Insurrection-Related Charges

[Financial News] The first-instance verdict in the case against former President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges including obstructing the execution of an arrest warrant by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) will be handed down on the 16th. It is the judiciary’s first legal ruling among his eight criminal trials. The sentencing will be broadcast live on television.
According to the legal community, Criminal Agreement Division 35 of the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Baek Dae-hyun, Chief Judge of the Criminal Division, Seoul Central District Court, will hold the first-instance sentencing hearing at 2 p.m. on this day in the case where former President Yoon is charged with obstruction of the execution of special official duties and abuse of authority, among other offenses.
Former President Yoon was placed under pretrial detention and indicted in July last year on charges including obstruction of the execution of special official duties for allegedly mobilizing staff of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) on January 3 of the same year to block the CIO from executing an arrest warrant.
He is also accused of abuse of authority and other charges for convening only some members of the State Council at the time of the proclamation of the December 3 Martial Law in order to merely create the appearance of a State Council meeting, thereby infringing the martial law deliberation rights of nine State Council members who could not attend.
In addition, he is charged with drafting a false proclamation to make it appear that martial law had been imposed pursuant to a document bearing the joint signatures of former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and former Minister of National Defense (MND) Kim Yong-hyun after martial law was lifted, and then destroying that document afterward, constituting the offense of falsifying official documents.
The indictment also includes allegations that he ordered the dissemination to foreign media of a Press Guidance (PG) containing the false statement that he had "not in the slightest intended to destroy the constitutional order," and that he instructed the deletion of secure phone communication records of former Commander of the Defense Counterintelligence Command Yeo In-hyung and others.
At the closing hearing held on the 26th of last month, the special prosecutor team requested a total prison sentence of 10 years, consisting of 5 years for charges including obstruction of the execution of special official duties, 3 years for charges including abuse of authority, and 2 years for falsifying official documents.
In its final opinion, the special prosecutor team stated, "This case is a grave crime in which the defendant privatized state institutions in order to conceal and justify his own offenses," adding, "It is necessary to impose strict accountability to restore constitutional order and the rule of law, and to prevent a recurrence of power abuse crimes by the highest officeholder."
By contrast, former President Yoon’s side denies most of the charges. This is the third time a criminal trial of a former president is being broadcast live, following the cases of Park Geun-hye and former President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea.


kyu0705@fnnews.com Kim Dong-gyu Reporter