Appellate Trial for Former President Yoon Suk Yeol Resumes After Month-Long Delay Due to Recusal Request

▲ Former President Yoon Suk Yeol arriving at court

The appellate trial for the December 3 martial law insurrection case, which had been suspended for about a month due to a recusal request filed by former President Yoon Suk Yeol, is set to resume.

The Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 12-1 (Presiding Judges Lee Seung-cheol, Cho Jin-gu, and Kim Min-ah), which handles insurrection cases, will hold a resumed hearing for former President Yoon's charges of leading an insurrection at 10:00 a.m. today (June 25).

Seven other key military and police officials, including former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who are charged with participating in key duties of an insurrection, will also stand trial.

During the hearing, the special counsel team led by Cho Eun-seok and the legal teams for the defendants, including former President Yoon, are expected to present their respective grounds for appeal.

Previously, the proceedings were halted after former President Yoon, former Minister Kim, and others filed requests to recuse the presiding judges.

On May 13, former President Yoon's side filed for recusal, arguing that it was difficult to expect a fair trial from the bench handling the insurrection case.

Former Minister Kim, former Defense Intelligence Command Chief Roh Sang-won, and former 3rd Field Army Command Military Police Chief (Colonel) Kim Yong-gun also filed requests to change the presiding judges.

Consequently, Criminal Division 12-1 had been conducting separate proceedings for the remaining defendants who did not file for recusal, including former National Police Agency Commissioner Cho Ji-ho, former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Kim Bong-sik, former National Assembly Security Guard Chief Mok Hyun-tae, and former Investigation Planning and Coordination Officer Yoon Seung-young.

Former President Yoon's side took issue with the fact that the same bench had presided over the appellate trial of former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his involvement in the insurrection.

However, the Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 1 (Presiding Judge Yoon Sung-sik), which reviewed the recusal requests, dismissed them on May 20, stating there was no concern of an unfair trial.

Former President Yoon's side appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court's Second Division (Justice Oh Kyoung-mi) dismissed the appeal on June 12.

The recusal requests filed by former Minister Kim and former Commander Roh were also finally dismissed on the same day.

Former President Yoon is charged with conspiring with former Minister Kim and others to declare the December 3 martial law and inciting a riot for the purpose of undermining the constitutional order.

In February, the first trial court found most of the charges against former President Yoon to be true and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

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