The case of Seoul Northern District Court Senior Judge Ji Gwi-yeon, who was put on trial over allegations of receiving alcohol entertainment, will be reviewed by a judge who is his classmate from the Judicial Research and Training Institute.

The Seoul Central District Court assigned the case involving Judge Ji's violation of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act to Senior Judge Park Gang-gyun of Criminal Division 4, which handles corruption cases.

Senior Judge Park is in the 31st class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, the same class as Senior Judge Ji.

Being classmates from the training institute does not in itself constitute grounds for disqualification or recusal, but recusal is possible if there are concerns that a judge cannot conduct an impartial trial.

Senior Judge Ji was indicted without detention on charges of receiving entertainment worth approximately 1.36 million won per instance, totaling 4.09 million won, by having two lawyers pay his bar tab at a reservation-only pub in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, around August 2023.

The Improper Solicitation and Graft Act stipulates that public officials who receive money, valuables, or entertainment exceeding 1 million won at one time from the same person shall be punished regardless of whether there is any connection to their official duties or quid pro quo.

Considering that the providers of the entertainment were lawyers, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials also investigated whether there was a quid pro quo. However, based on the fact that there were no cases handled by those lawyers pending before Senior Judge Ji's court at the time, bribery charges were not applied.

The suspicions surrounding Senior Judge Ji surfaced in May of last year when lawmakers from the Democratic Party claimed that Senior Judge Ji had received alcohol entertainment from persons connected to his official duties at a Gangnam pub in Seoul.

The Corruption Investigation Office received a complaint from civic groups and launched an investigation that same month, eventually indicting Senior Judge Ji without detention on the 4th, approximately 1 year and 4 months later.

Senior Judge Ji presided over the first-instance trial of former President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges of heading an insurrection as the presiding judge of Criminal Division 25 of the Seoul Central District Court, and sentenced former President Yoon to life imprisonment.

He subsequently moved to the Seoul Northern District Court during the regular personnel reshuffle in February of this year.