As the summer recess for courts across the country comes to an end next week, trials related to various allegations surrounding former President Yoon Suk Yeol and the martial law incident, as well as the death of Corporal Chae, will resume.
According to legal sources on August 6, most courts, including the Seoul Central District Court, the largest in the country, have been on recess for two weeks from July 27 to August 7, while the Seoul High Court will remain in recess until August 14.
Starting August 10, most courts will resume hearings, with the first appeal trial for former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun set to begin on August 11 as part of the insurrection special investigation team led by Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-seok.
Kim was sentenced to prison in the first trial for allegedly deceiving the Presidential Security Service to obtain a secret phone and passing it to former Army Intelligence Command Chief Noh Sang-won. On the same day, a preparatory hearing for his additional charges of leaking the list of intelligence agents will also take place.
On August 19, the appeal ruling for Jo Tae-yong, former head of the National Intelligence Service, who was sentenced to prison for perjury in the National Assembly and Constitutional Court after the declaration of martial law, will be announced. The following day, the appeal trials for Park Jong-jun and other security service officials, who obstructed the arrest attempt of former President Yoon, will commence. On August 24, the appeal ruling for Kang Yi-gu, former chief of the Presidential Office's secretariat, who is accused of involvement in drafting the post-martial law declaration, will also be delivered.
Between late August and September, first-instance rulings will be issued for military leaders who mobilized troops during the martial law. On August 27, a ruling will be announced for seven military officials, including Kim Hyun-tae, former commander of the 707th Special Mission Battalion, who were involved in blocking the National Assembly and the National Election Commission and operating a politician arrest team.
On September 21, first-instance rulings will be delivered for former Army Counterintelligence Command Chief Yeo In-hyung and former Capital Defense Command Chief Lee Jin-woo, along with first-instance rulings for Yoon Jae-soon, former chief of staff, and Lim Jong-deok, a member of the National Assembly, who are charged with corruption in personnel appointments at the National Security Office.
Meanwhile, the appeal cases for former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, who are accused of serious insurrection-related offenses, are currently pending before the Supreme Court.
The Kim Geon-hee special investigation team, led by Special Prosecutor Min Jung-ki, is set to focus on the appeal trials of former President Yoon and his wife. The first appeal hearing for Yoon, who was sentenced to two years in prison for receiving free opinion polls from political broker Myung Tae-kyun, will take place on August 21. On the same day, the appeal trial for Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who is also implicated in the case, will begin in the Seoul High Court.
The first appeal hearing for Kim Geon-hee, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for the so-called 'money-for-appointments' scandal, is scheduled for August 26. The court plans to expedite the process with a ruling expected on September 22. Additionally, the first-instance ruling for Han Hak-ja, the leader of the Unification Church, who is at the center of allegations of collusion with the church, is set for August 31.
However, the cases involving Kim Geon-hee related to Deutsche Motors stock manipulation, Myung Tae-kyun's opinion polls, and Unification Church bribery allegations have been postponed and are now under review by the Supreme Court.
In the case of the special investigation team regarding the death of Corporal Chae, the appeal ruling for Im Seong-geun, former commander of the Marine Corps' 1st Division, will be announced on August 7. Im was sentenced to three years in prison in the first trial for causing Chae's death due to excessive search orders. The first-instance ruling for the so-called 'Run Jong-seop' case, where former Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop, a key suspect, was appointed as ambassador to Australia, will be delivered on September 11.
Lastly, investigations into remaining allegations by the second special investigation team, led by Special Prosecutor Kwon Chang-young, have just begun. The second trial for Kim Dae-ki, former chief of staff, and former Minister Lee Sang-min, who are accused of favoritism in the relocation of the presidential residence, will take place on September 12, while the first formal hearing for Kim Myung-soo, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is accused of participating in insurrection, is scheduled for September 1.
The first preparatory hearing for Kim Tae-hyo, former first deputy director of the National Security Office, who is implicated in allegations of justifying martial law through diplomatic messages, is set for August 26.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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