Following Yoon, Han Duck-soo Verdict... Second Mediation in Class Action over ‘Performance Throttling’ on Galaxy S22 [This Week’s Court Schedule]

According to The Financial News, following former President Yoon Suk Yeol, the first-instance verdict in the case against former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on charges including aiding the leader of an insurrection will be handed down this week (19–23) by the court. It will be the second judicial ruling related to the December 3 emergency martial law declaration, coming right after Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced to five years in prison on charges including obstructing arrest. A second mediation date has also been set in the appeal of the class action lawsuit over alleged performance throttling caused by Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S22 Game Optimizing Service (GOS).
According to the legal community on the 18th, Criminal Agreement Division 33 of the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Lee Jin-kwan, will hold the first-instance sentencing hearing for former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo at 2 p.m. on the 21st on charges including aiding the leader of an insurrection, performing key duties in connection with an insurrection, and perjury. As the second-highest official in the administration, Han was obligated to check the president’s arbitrary exercise of power, but he was indicted on charges of failing to stop and instead aiding Yoon Suk Yeol’s unlawful declaration of emergency martial law.
The Special Prosecutor Team for Insurrection and Treason, led by Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-seok, believes that Han Duck-soo, former Prime Minister of South Korea, sought to secure the appearance of legitimacy for the martial law declaration by recommending the convening of a Cabinet meeting and by signing the so-called “post-facto emergency martial law proclamation” and then taking part in the process of having it withdrawn. He has also been charged with perjury for allegedly denying, while testifying as a witness before the Constitutional Court of Korea, facts related to whether the martial law proclamation was delivered.
At the closing arguments held on November 26 last year, the special prosecutor team requested a 15-year prison sentence for Han Duck-soo. The team characterized his involvement in attempts to justify the martial law declaration through post-facto approval procedures and his participation in the drafting of falsified official documents as serious acts of participation in an insurrection. Han’s side, while acknowledging the perjury charge, denies the other allegations, arguing that he did not recognize the emergency martial law as being aimed at subverting the constitutional order and that, on the contrary, he sought to block Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of emergency martial law. In his final statement, he said, “I failed to prevent the emergency martial law, but I never, under any circumstances, agreed with it or sought to assist it.”
Earlier, on the 16th, former President Yoon Suk Yeol was found guilty on charges of falsifying official documents in connection with the post-facto approval of the martial law proclamation. Criminal Division 35 of the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Baek Dae-hyun, Chief Judge of the Criminal Division, Seoul Central District Court, held that the document in question was dated differently from the actual time it was drafted and signed, and therefore “constitutes a falsified official document in and of itself.” Attention is now focused on whether this legal reasoning will be applied consistently in the case of former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo.
Meanwhile, the trial of former Minister of Justice of the Republic of Korea Park Sung-jae, who is suspected of involvement in the martial law scheme, will begin on the 19th. Park is accused of being summoned early to the presidential office before the declaration of martial law and, in anticipation of the emergency martial law being declared, ordering follow-up measures such as dispatching personnel from the Ministry of Justice and checking the capacity of detention facilities. Also on the same day, hearings will begin in the case against former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choi Sang-mok, among others, who have been indicted on charges of dereliction of duty for failing to appoint Constitutional Court justices recommended by the National Assembly.
Separately, a second mediation date in the appeal of the damages lawsuit related to the Galaxy S22, which has been at the center of a “performance throttling” controversy, is scheduled for the 22nd. Civil Division 12-1 of the Seoul High Court (presided over by Jang Seok-jo, Bae Gwang-guk, Presiding Judge of the Seoul High Court, and Kim Yong Seok) will on that day hold the second mediation session in the appeal filed by more than 1,600 Galaxy smartphone users against Samsung Electronics and discuss specific settlement proposals from both sides. Earlier, on the 7th, the court held the first mediation session behind closed doors, during which it examined the possibility of a settlement and confirmed the parties’ positions. At the first hearing held in December last year, the court recommended mediation instead of proceeding directly to a judgment.
scottchoi15@fnnews.com Choi Eun-sol Reporter