Supreme Court to Livestream Ruling on Former President Yoon Suk Yeol's 'Obstruction of CIO Arrest' Case at 2 PM

[Anchor]

The Supreme Court is set to deliver its final ruling this afternoon, July 9, on former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has been indicted on five charges, including obstructing an arrest by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO). This marks the first Supreme Court decision regarding the former president, 583 days after the declaration of martial law on December 3. The sentencing will be broadcast live.

Report by Jang Hun-gyeong.

[Reporter]

The Supreme Court's Third Petty Bench will hold the final sentencing hearing for former President Yoon Suk Yeol at 2 PM today on charges including special obstruction of official duties and abuse of power.

This is the first Supreme Court judgment on a case involving the former president, 583 days after the December 3 insurrection.

Former President Yoon faces charges including mobilizing Presidential Security Service staff to obstruct the execution of an arrest warrant by the CIO in January of last year, abusing his power by holding a two-minute Cabinet meeting just before the martial law declaration to infringe upon the deliberation and voting rights of certain Cabinet members, and creating and destroying false official documents related to the post-facto martial law declaration.

The first trial found him guilty of charges including obstruction of arrest and sentenced him to five years in prison. The second trial increased the sentence to seven years, finding him guilty of additional charges that the first trial had acquitted him of, such as distributing false press releases to foreign media.

In particular, the court rebuked him for failing to show remorse even through the appellate trial, despite his duty as president to uphold the Constitution.

Former President Yoon's side appealed the decision, arguing that the CIO lacks jurisdiction to investigate insurrection charges and that he never gave specific instructions to the Presidential Security Service to use physical force or specific methods of obstruction.

[Yoon Suk Yeol / Former President (Last April, closing argument of the appellate trial): Even if you try to politically trap me like this, I wonder if it is consistent with common sense to indict me to this extent and make me stand trial for these things.]

The Supreme Court has decided to livestream the ruling, a first for a petty bench decision.

The court did not accept the objection from the former president's side, which claimed that a livestream would infringe upon his right to a fair trial and his personal rights.

The sentencing can be watched in real time via SBS TV or YouTube.

(Video Editing: So Ji-hye)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.