Constitutional Court to Hold First Trial on Im Seong-geun Former Chief Judge's Impeachment Case on the 24th

Constitutional Court Grand Chamber.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The first preparatory hearing for the impeachment trial of former Busan High Court Chief Judge Im Seong-geun will be held on the 24th.

The Constitutional Court announced on the 10th that it will hold the first preparatory hearing for the impeachment trial of former Chief Judge Im in the small courtroom at 2 p.m. on the 24th.

The preparatory hearing is a procedure where both the National Assembly, which requested the impeachment trial, and the respondent, former Chief Judge Im, decide on the evidence to be submitted and the method of argument before the full trial begins.

At the time the National Assembly requested the impeachment trial, Im was still a sitting judge, but his term expired on the 28th of last month.

Former Chief Judge Im is accused of being involved in a total of three cases.

First, Im is accused of being involved in the trial of a defamation case against Tatsuya Kato, former Seoul bureau chief of the Sankei Shimbun, who reported on former President Park Geun-hye’s ‘7-hour whereabouts during the Sewol ferry disaster’ while serving as the senior criminal judge at the Seoul Central District Court in 2015.

He is accused of intervening by receiving instructions from then Deputy Director of the Court Administration Office Lim Jong-heon, preemptively understanding the court’s ruling direction, and ordering that even if a not guilty verdict was given, the judgment should clarify that the report claiming former President Park met with Jeong Yoon-hoe was false.

However, he was acquitted in the first trial of the criminal case.

Former Chief Judge Im is also accused of pressuring two players, Oh Seung-hwan and Lim Chang-yong, who were summarily indicted on gambling charges in 2016, by calling them to his office and saying, “It would be better to hear the opinions of other judges around you,” to have the case closed by summary order after the presiding judge decided to refer the case to a formal trial.

The third accusation involves his involvement in the trial of four lawyers from the Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun), who were charged with assault causing injury after a scuffle with police over order maintenance lines at a Ssangyong Motor rally, during which one of the lawyers grabbed the arm of the head of security at Namdaemun Police Station and was dragged about 20 meters.

It is alleged that former Chief Judge Im received reports on the judgment from the criminal public relations officer, delayed the registration of the judgment and distribution of explanatory materials, and instructed the presiding court to consider toning down controversial expressions in the sentencing reasons. Subsequently, the presiding court deleted expressions from the original judgment such as the suggestion that there were problems with the police’s official duties during the incident and that the defendants’ actions and expressions in the video footage showed anger and aggression toward the victims.

Former Chief Judge Im requested the disqualification of Justice Lee Seok-tae (age 68, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 14), the presiding judge of this impeachment trial, on the grounds that he was related to two of the three cases Im was involved in?the defamation case related to former President Park’s ‘7-hour whereabouts during the Sewol ferry disaster’ and the assault case involving Minbyun lawyers at the Ssangyong Motor rally?but the request was denied.

Justice Lee served as chairman of the Sewol Ferry Disaster Special Investigation Commission in 2015 and was president of Minbyun from 2004 to 2006.

He also served as co-representative of the progressive civic group People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) for three years starting in 2011; PSPD, along with Minbyun, has consistently called for the impeachment of judges involved in judicial corruption.

Additionally, Justice Lee, appointed by Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo in 2018, worked as a public ethics secretary in the Office of Civil Affairs when President Moon Jae-in served as senior secretary for civil affairs during the Roh Moo-hyun administration in 2003, which was cited by former Chief Judge Im’s side as a reason for fearing that the current government might steer the trial toward a conclusion favorable to impeachment.

Since former Chief Judge Im is no longer a judge, even if the Constitutional Court finds grounds for impeachment, it will be difficult to issue an order to remove “Judge Im Seong-geun” from office.

However, there remains the possibility that the Constitutional Court will publicly announce the results of the substantive judgment by issuing a dismissal order while declaring in the decision’s reasoning that former Chief Judge Im’s interference in trials was an unconstitutional act infringing on judicial independence.

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