Major Trials Begin Today Amid Court Recess Period

Resumption of Trials at the Discretion of Presiding Judges
Including Judicial Farming Scandal and Jo Guk Family Trials

Seoul Central District Court / Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Major trials that were postponed due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) will resume from the 9th. In the case of the Seoul Central District Court, schedules for trials related to judicial corruption and the family of Cho Kuk have been lined up this week. Although the court decided to have a recess period until the 20th, the presiding judges judged that they could not indefinitely postpone cases expected to be prolonged or involving detention. Even during the recess period, only the presiding judge of the respective trial can decide on changes to the trial date or whether to recess, based on the principle of independence.

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 36 (Chief Judge Yoon Jongseop) will hold a trial in the afternoon for former Deputy Director of the Court Administration Office Lim Jongheon, who was indicted and detained on suspicion of abuse of judicial administrative power. This is the first time Lim has appeared in court in about nine months since May last year. At that time, Lim filed a motion to disqualify the trial panel, claiming that the panel had improperly abused its authority to direct the lawsuit, which led to the suspension of the trial. After the motion was dismissed and the Seoul District Court entered a special recess due to COVID-19, the trial date was changed to this day, and the trial resumed. During the recess period, on the 3rd, Lim submitted a bail application to the court. Accordingly, the trial panel plans to hold a separate bail hearing for Lim on the 10th, one day after the main trial. The trial of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Seungtae will be held two days later on the 11th. This trial was originally scheduled for the 4th but the date was changed on the 2nd, two days before the trial.

The trial of the family of Cho Kuk has also resumed. The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 24 (Chief Judge So Byeongseok) held a trial in the morning for Cho Beomdong, the fifth cousin of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk. Cho Beomdong’s trial was originally scheduled for the 26th of last month but was postponed due to the impact of COVID-19. The trial of Cho Kuk’s younger brother, Cho Gwon, was held on the same day. The trial of Professor Jeong Gyeongsim of Dongyang University, who was indicted on charges of admission fraud and illegal investment in private equity funds, will be held on the afternoon of the 11th under the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 25-2 (Chief Judge Im Jeongyeop). This is the first trial since the trial panel changed due to the court’s regular personnel reshuffle last month. The new panel had planned to hold the 5th hearing of this case on the 27th of last month but postponed it once due to the spread of COVID-19.

At the Seoul High Court, the appeal trial began for 32 people, including Lee Sanghoon, Chairman of the Samsung Electronics Board of Directors, who was sentenced to imprisonment in the first trial on suspicion of union busting at Samsung. The Seoul High Court Criminal Division 3 (Chief Judge Bae Junhyun) held the first appeal hearing of this case on the 9th. In the first trial held in December last year, the court sentenced Chairman Lee and Vice President Kang Kyunghoon of Samsung Electronics to one year and six months in prison and ordered their immediate detention in court.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.