The legal team of former Minister of Justice Park Sung-jae and the independent counsel team led by Special Prosecutor Cho Eunseok have both appealed the appellate court's ruling in the insurrection case involving the former minister.

According to the legal community, both Park's side and the special counsel team submitted appeals yesterday (October 27) to the 1st Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Yoon Sung-sik), which handled the second-instance trial.

Previously, the appellate court sentenced Park, who faces charges including involvement in an insurrection with important duties, to 9 years in prison.

This marks a significant reduction from the 25-year prison sentence handed down in the first trial.

Park was brought to trial for convening a meeting of Ministry of Justice officials after former President Yoon Suk Yeol declared emergency martial law on December 3, 2024, and for ordering the review of dispatching prosecutors to the Joint Investigation Headquarters of the Martial Law Command, checking the capacity of correctional facilities, and instructing employees in charge of travel bans to report to work.

He is also charged with abuse of authority by ordering the inspection of correctional facility capacity and the reporting of travel-ban officials, as well as directing the Ministry of Justice's prosecution division to draft an "abuse of authority document" containing logic to justify martial law immediately after the lifting of martial law.

The second instance, similar to the first, ruled that the emergency martial law lacked substantive and procedural requirements, and that Park recognized the martial law declaration was intended to achieve unconstitutional and illegal objectives.

However, the court overturned several charges to not guilty, including the allegations that Park abused his power by ordering the check on correctional facility capacity and instructing travel-ban personnel to report to work.

In the case of former Government Legislation Minister Lee Wan-kyu, who was indicted together on charges of perjury before the National Assembly for allegedly claiming that martial law was not discussed during the "safehouse gathering" held immediately after martial law was lifted, the appellate court overturned the first instance's dismissal of the indictment and sent the case back to the Seoul Central District Court.

This ruling was based on the view that Lee's charges fall under the scope of investigation specified in the Independent Counsel Act.

Lee submitted his appeal to the appellate court on October 22.

(Photo: Yonhap News)