General Election Over... Trials of Ruling Party Figures Including Cho Kuk and Choi Kang-wook Follow One After Another

Most Are Major Cases... Progress Slowed Due to General Election Impact
Hwang Unha and Other Elected Officials May Lose Their Seats Depending on Results

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Trials of ruling party figures postponed since the April 15 general election are set to resume.

Most of these cases have been designated as 'important cases requiring timely handling,' but trials have hardly proceeded due to the court's regular personnel changes, the general election, and the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Former Blue House Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Han Byung-do and former Ulsan Metropolitan Police Chief Hwang Un-ha, who were elected in this general election, could lose their parliamentary seats depending on the trial outcomes.

According to the legal community on the 16th, the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 21 (Presiding Judge Kim Mi-ri) will hold the second pretrial conference on the case involving former Minister Cho's family corruption and obstruction of inspection on the 17th.

The case against former Minister Cho was designated as a timely handling case at the beginning of the year, and the first trial procedure was scheduled to start in January. However, it was merged with the case of former Busan Deputy Mayor Yoo Jae-soo's obstruction of inspection, and the first pretrial conference was held last month.

Due to the merger with the obstruction of inspection case, the list of defendants in this trial now includes former Blue House Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Baek Won-woo and former Anti-Corruption Secretary Park Hyung-chul.

On the 21st, the first trial of former Blue House Secretary for Public Office Discipline Choi Kang-wook, who was indicted for issuing a false internship confirmation letter to former Minister Cho's son, will be held. The trial will be conducted by Judge Jeong Jong-geon of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 9.

Former Secretary Choi ran as the second candidate on the Open Democratic Party's proportional representation list in this general election and was elected. However, if he receives a prison sentence or higher in this trial and it is finalized, his election will be invalidated.

The trial regarding allegations of interference in the Ulsan mayoral election, in which former Senior Secretary Han and former Police Chief Hwang are defendants, will be held on the 23rd. The Criminal Division 21, which is handling former Minister Cho's case, will preside over this trial.

The Ulsan mayoral election interference case was also designated as a timely handling case when it was filed with the court in January, but the first trial procedure only began after nearly three months.

In this case, a total of 13 people, including former Senior Secretary Han, former Police Chief Hwang, Ulsan Mayor Song Cheol-ho, and former Senior Administrative Officer Jang Hwan-seok of the Balanced Development Secretariat, have been indicted for violating the Public Official Election Act.

If former Senior Secretary Han and former Police Chief Hwang, who were elected in this general election, receive a confirmed prison sentence in this trial, their election will be invalidated. Since the charges involve violations of the Public Official Election Act, even a confirmed fine of 1 million won or more will result in loss of their parliamentary seats.

The trial of Gyeongnam Governor Kim Kyung-soo will also resume. The Seoul High Court Criminal Division 2 (Presiding Judge Ham Sang-hoon) will hold a continuation of the appellate trial on the 27th for Governor Kim, who was indicted for conspiring to manipulate online comments.

Previously, the trial court for Governor Kim's case announced that it would provide both the special prosecutor and defense counsel opportunities for argument at this hearing.

The resumption of arguments, decided by Presiding Judge Cha Moon-ho, who was the trial judge until the court personnel changes in February, will take place after a long interval of three months.

Originally, Governor Kim's trial was scheduled for December 24 last year. However, Judge Cha suddenly postponed the verdict once and then decided to resume arguments at the January hearing.

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