Yoon Mi-hyang Trial Assigned to Collegiate Panel... Considering Case Severity Like Lee Jae-yong

Yoon Mi-hyang, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the government questioning session on foreign affairs, unification, and security held at the National Assembly plenary session on the 15th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporters Seongpil Jo, Donghoon Jung] Yoon Mi-hyang, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea who was indicted on allegations of accounting fraud related to the Justice and Memory Foundation, will face trial before a collegiate panel. Although the charges initially applied to Yoon fall under the jurisdiction of a single-judge panel based on the statutory penalties, the court decided otherwise considering the gravity of the case. This is similar to the case of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who was tried over allegations of illegal succession of Samsung's management rights.

According to the court on the 16th, the Seoul Western District Court plans to assign Yoon's case, in which she was indicted two days ago on eight charges including fraud, embezzlement, and breach of trust, to a collegiate panel through a reallocation procedure. The reallocation procedure involves reviewing the nature of the case and transferring it from a single-judge panel to a collegiate panel composed of three judges.

A court official explained, "Cases with statutory penalties of imprisonment for one year or more are assigned to collegiate panels. In Yoon's case, all the charges have statutory penalties without a minimum limit but only a maximum limit, so in principle it would be a single-judge case. However, the court decided otherwise considering the seriousness of the matter." The Supreme Court's regulations on case allocation and division of duties stipulate that cases without precedent or with conflicting precedents, cases with complex facts or issues, and cases with significant social impact may be assigned to a collegiate panel through reallocation. The panel to handle the trial is expected to be assigned today. It is likely to be assigned to Criminal Division 11 (Chief Judge Lee Dae-yeon) or Criminal Division 12 (Chief Judge Lee Jeong-min).

The court panels are broadly divided into collegiate panels and single-judge panels. When three judges sit on the bench in court, it is a collegiate panel. The judge seated in the middle is the presiding judge, and the two judges on either side are associate judges. The three judges form a collegiate body to hear the case and deliver a verdict. Compared to single-judge panels, collegiate panels handle more complex cases and impose heavier sentences upon conviction, resulting in more intense courtroom battles.

The Seoul Central District Court also assigned the case of Vice Chairman Lee, indicted on charges including violation of the Capital Markets Act and breach of trust on the 2nd, to a collegiate panel rather than a single-judge panel. Although the case falls under the jurisdiction of a single judge, the court decided on reallocation considering the complexity of facts and issues. This case was handled by the Criminal Division 25-2 (Chief Judge Lim Jeong-yeop) of the court.

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