'Cheong Ulsan Mayor Election Interference' First Formal Trial in May... 1 Year 4 Months After Indictment

First Trial Resumed After Court Reorganization
New Presiding Judge Swiftly Leads Trial
Former Presiding Judge Kim Miri Serves as Chief Judge

Song Cheol-ho, Mayor of Ulsan [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The first formal trial regarding the Blue House's alleged interference in the Ulsan mayoral election will be held in May. This comes one year and four months after Ulsan Mayor Song Cheol-ho and others were indicted on January 29 of last year.

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 21-3 (Presiding Judge Jang Yong-beom) held the sixth pretrial hearing for 13 defendants, including Mayor Song, on the 31st and announced, "The first trial date will be held on May 10." Unlike pretrial hearings where defendants are not required to attend, defendants must be present at the formal trial. Mayor Song, former Deputy Mayor Song Byung-ki, former Daejeon Police Chief Hwang Un-ha, and former Senior Secretary for Political Affairs Han Byung-do are expected to appear in court for the first time since being indicted in this case.

The core allegation in this case is that the Blue House committed various illegal acts to help Mayor Song win ahead of the 2018 local elections. It is also alleged that Blue House officials passed misconduct intelligence about Song's rival, former Ulsan Mayor Kim Ki-hyun, to the Ulsan Police Agency, influencing the election through a 'directed investigation.' Mayor Song is known to be a 'close friend of 30 years' with President Moon Jae-in. Since the indictment, the prosecution has not allowed defense attorneys to view or copy some records citing additional investigations, causing the trial to stall for a year with only pretrial hearings held multiple times. The defense's request to divide the charges by defendant also contributed to the delay.

Hwang Unha, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea / Photo by Yoon Dongju doso7@

Last month, the trial panel for this case was reorganized into a collegial panel during the court's regular personnel and case assignment changes. The collegial panel consists of three presiding judges who take turns serving as the chief judge depending on the case. Judges Kim Sang-yeon and Jang Yong-beom were newly appointed, replacing the previous associate judges. In the Ulsan mayoral election interference case, Judge Jang serves as the chief judge. Former chief judge Kim Mi-ri now serves as the principal judge, responsible for drafting the verdict.

At the first trial after the panel reorganization, Judge Jang stated, "The preparation procedures have continued due to circumstances on both sides," adding, "Since there are many charges and multiple defendants, the trial should be conducted by dividing the charges, so I ask the prosecution to determine the order of evidence presentation." He further requested, "Please allow the defense to review and copy as much of the investigation records as possible to ensure the defendants' right to defense." The prosecution responded, "The investigation is practically in its final stage," and assured, "We will ensure that there will be no hindrance to the upcoming trial."

The defense argued that some of the prosecution's investigation records are inappropriate as evidence and that the indictment violates the principle of indictment specificity. They also pointed out that 153 of the prosecution's submitted evidence, accounting for 20%, are newspaper articles, and some evidence includes posts from 'Namuwiki,' a platform where anyone can post content. The prosecution stated, "We will provide sufficient explanations regarding the defense's claims and the purpose of evidence during the evidence examination process."

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