Jeon Du-hwan to Appear in Court Again After Over a Year... Court "Revokes Permission for Absence"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Jeon Du-hwan, who was indicted for defaming the late Father Jo Bio, is expected to stand trial again.

On the 6th, Judge Kim Jeong-hoon of the Gwangju District Court Criminal Division 8 held a pretrial hearing for Jeon and stated, "I have no choice but to cancel the defendant's permission to be absent from the trial and plan to conduct an identity verification examination at the next hearing."

However, Judge Kim added, "If the defendant attends and submits a written excuse for absence, I will consider whether to allow absence thereafter."

There is no obligation for the defendant to attend the pretrial hearing. However, at the subsequent trial, Jeon must appear at least once to undergo an identity verification examination to confirm his identity as the defendant.

The identity verification examination is a procedure conducted before the substantive trial begins, where the defendant is asked about their name, age, address, and registered domicile.

If Jeon appears, he will stand in court as a defendant again for the first time in over a year since March 11 of last year.

The court plans to deliver a summons to the defendant and proceed with the trial renewal process and identity verification examination at the next hearing.

Jeon's next trial is scheduled for 2 p.m. on the 27th.

This case originally began when the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office indicted Jeon in May 2018.

However, the trial was delayed as Jeon did not attend court citing trial preparation and health reasons.

The trial, which had been repeatedly stalled, seemed to gain momentum when Jeon appeared in court on March 11 last year following the issuance of a detention warrant.

However, the previous presiding judge authorized Jeon's absence ex officio and resigned in January due to running for the general election.

Additionally, due to the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the trial has been suspended for over three months since the last hearing in December of last year.

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