Supreme Court Assigns Second Division to Recusal Re-Appeal Case Filed by Special Prosecutor Park Young-soo... Presiding Justice No Jeong-hee

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The Supreme Court has begun reviewing the rehearing of the recusation application filed by the special prosecution team led by Park Young-soo in the retrial of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong's state affairs manipulation case, requesting the replacement of the presiding judges.

On the 7th, the Supreme Court assigned the rehearing case, in which the special prosecution team appealed against the dismissal of their recusation application, to the 2nd Division and appointed Justice Noh Jeong-hee (56, 19th Judicial Research and Training Institute) as the presiding judge.

The retrial of Vice Chairman Lee’s state affairs manipulation case is being conducted by the Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Jeong Jun-young, Judges Song Young-seung and Kang Sang-wook).

Previously, the special prosecution team filed a recusation application, claiming that the trial proceedings were biased. However, on the 17th of last month, the Criminal Division 3 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Bae Jun-hyun, Judges Pyo Hyeon-deok and Kim Gyu-dong) dismissed the recusation application against the Criminal Division 1.

At that time, the court stated, "There are no objective circumstances to believe that Presiding Judge Jeong of the Criminal Division 1 has prejudgments favorable to the defendants regarding sentencing or exercises his authority arbitrarily and unfairly in directing the trial, thus raising concerns about an unfair trial."

Subsequently, the special prosecution team appealed to the Supreme Court, stating, "Despite clear evidence that Presiding Judge Jeong lost consistency, held prejudgments, and conducted the trial with bias in favor of the defendants, this was not acknowledged."

The special prosecution team particularly argued that Presiding Judge Jeong’s initial proposal to establish a Compliance Committee was an act aimed at considering a suspended sentence.

A Supreme Court official said, "The results of rehearings usually come out within 2 to 4 months, but there is a possibility that this case will be decided within two months."

According to the Criminal Procedure Act, if a recusation application is filed against a judge, the trial is suspended. Therefore, until the Supreme Court reaches a final decision on the rehearing case, Vice Chairman Lee’s retrial will not proceed.

Meanwhile, Justice Noh, who was appointed as the presiding judge for the rehearing case, graduated from Gwangju Dongshin Girls' High School and Ewha Womans University’s Department of Law, and passed the 29th Judicial Examination in 1987.

After completing the Judicial Research and Training Institute, Justice Noh began her career as a judge at Chuncheon District Court in 1990, serving also at the Wonju Branch of Chuncheon District Court and Suwon District Court. She left the judiciary in 1995 to work as a lawyer, then returned as a judge at Incheon District Court in 2001.

Since then, she has served as ▲Judge at Seoul High Court ▲Judge at Seoul Central District Court ▲Presiding Judge at Gwangju District Court ▲Presiding Judge at Seoul Central District Court ▲Senior Presiding Judge at Seoul Family Court ▲Presiding Judge at Gwangju High Court ▲Presiding Judge at Seoul High Court, and was appointed as a Supreme Court Justice in August 2018.

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