Kim Kyung-soo's New Trial Panel "Will Review the Entire Case"... Indicates Reconsideration from the Beginning

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] It appears that the appellate trial of Kim Kyung-soo, Governor of Gyeongnam Province, will be reconsidered from the beginning. This is because the newly appointed panel, whose members changed due to the court's office reorganization last month, expressed their intention to review the entire case again.

The Seoul High Court Criminal Division 2 (Presiding Judge Ham Sang-hoon) held a continuation hearing of the appellate trial for Governor Kim, who was indicted on charges including computer-related obstruction of business, at 2 p.m. on the 24th.

This hearing was the first to be conducted after the change in the composition of the panel.

The panel stated that they would proceed with the renewal of the trial and listen to arguments from both sides through a presentation (PT) at the next hearing.

The panel said, "Since two members have changed, we believe it will be helpful for the trial to hear the opinions of both the special prosecutor and the defendant again," adding, "The content of the PT will not be limited to the issue of whether Governor Kim and Kim Dong-won of Druking are accomplices, as clarified by the previous panel."

The panel added, "We will give each side two hours to present their arguments," but also noted, "Since the trial has been ongoing for about a year, we will not accept duplicate evidence."

Previously, the former panel in this case had tentatively concluded during the hearing on January 21 that Governor Kim had witnessed a demonstration of the comment manipulation program 'King Crab' at Druking's office.

This revealed their judgment on a key issue of the case even before the verdict was delivered.

The former panel also stated that in the subsequent trial, they would examine whether Governor Kim could be considered a co-principal offender with Druking.

However, the new panel expressed their intention to review the entire case again, not limited to this part.

The special prosecutor opposed this, saying, "If they want to debate even the parts where a tentative conclusion has already been made, we will never accept it." But the panel drew a line, saying, "We think it is right to cover the entire content," and "Although it may be cumbersome, we hope to be given the opportunity by our panel."

Governor Kim's side reiterated at the hearing, "The act of manipulating comments was done by Kim Dong-won of Druking, not by the defendant."

They also requested, "Major parts of Kim Dong-won's testimony are all false, and the inferences based on it are all factual errors. We ask the new panel to directly face the substantive core and make a judgment through direct witness examination."

However, the panel said, "Since many witnesses, evidence, and materials have been presented so far, we do not intend to accept more duplicate evidence or witnesses."

Governor Kim's side is expected to strongly argue in future hearings that the new panel should make a new judgment on whether he attended the King Crab demonstration and that a co-principal offender relationship with Druking cannot be established.

After the hearing, Governor Kim's lawyer said, "The most important argument in this trial is that he has never even seen the demonstration itself," adding, "Naturally, the conspiracy relationship cannot be established either."

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