Former President Yoon again faces 10-year prison demand on appeal over alleged obstruction of arrest; new evidence of additional luxury gifts to First Lady Kim emerges [Comprehensive]

The Special Prosecutor Team for Insurrection and Treason, led by Cho Eun-seok, again sought a 10-year prison term in the appeals trial for former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has been indicted on charges including obstructing the execution of an arrest warrant issued by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO).
On the 6th, during the final hearing in Yoon’s case on charges including obstruction of special official duties, held before the Seoul High Court’s First Criminal Division, which handles insurrection-related cases and is presided over by Presiding Judge Yoon Sung-sik of the Seoul High Court’s First Criminal Division, the special prosecutor team asked the court to impose the same sentence. The team had also requested a 10-year prison term at the first trial.
The special prosecutor argued that "by abusing his position as president to destroy the constitutional order and privatize state authority, the nature of his crimes is egregious," adding, "Even after the first-instance ruling, he has continued to offer excuses and claim he is being treated unfairly, instead of seizing the opportunity to apologize to the public."
They went on to stress that it is difficult to view the first-instance ruling as having imposed a sentence commensurate with the gravity of the offenses, noting that the court treated the fact that Yoon is a first-time offender as a mitigating factor in sentencing.
Yoon is accused of mobilizing staff from the Presidential Security Service (PSS) in January last year to block CIO investigators from executing an arrest warrant, constituting obstruction of special official duties and related charges. He is also charged with abuse of authority for convening only some cabinet members at the time of the December 3 Martial Law declaration, allegedly staging only the appearance of a State Council of South Korea meeting and thereby infringing the martial-law deliberation rights of nine cabinet members who could not attend. In addition, he faces charges of falsifying official documents for drafting a false proclamation to make it appear that martial law had been imposed through a document co-signed by former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun after martial law was lifted, and then destroying that document. In the first trial, the court found Yoon guilty on the main charges and sentenced him to five years in prison.
Meanwhile, the Second Comprehensive Special Investigation Team, led by Special Prosecutor Kwon Chang-young, launched a compulsory investigation after uncovering indications that First Lady Kim Keon Hee had received additional luxury goods while probing alleged favoritism in awarding renovation work for the Presidential Residence. The targets of the search and seizure include the offices of related companies and the home of a company representative.
Previously, the special prosecutor team investigating Kim Keon Hee concluded that the interior design firm 21 Grams, which handled remodeling of the presidential residence, had given Christian Dior products to Kim as gifts and, in return, received preferential treatment in being awarded the renovation contract. Prosecutors have brought 21 Grams CEO Kim Tae-young and others to trial over the matter. At the core of the allegations is that 21 Grams, a small firm without even a general construction license, won a contract to work on the presidential residence, a national security facility, due to improper interference by Kim and other higher-level figures. The 21 Grams CEO and his spouse are known to have had a long-standing relationship with Kim dating back to her time at Kovana Contents. On May 25, 2022, 21 Grams secured a 1.224 billion won contract for the Presidential Residence relocation project through a private contract, winning the bid in just three hours after the tender notice was posted, which sparked major controversy.


kyu0705@fnnews.com Kim Dong-gyu Reporter