Park Won-soon's Son Absent from Trial as Witness: "Will Deny Any Outcome as False"

Yang Seung-o and 7 Others Face Appeal Trial for Violation of Public Official Election Act
Park Ju-shin Submits Absence Letter and Departs Country

Dr. Yang Seung-oh (left) and attorney Cha Ki-hwan, who were indicted on charges of raising allegations of military service corruption involving Joo-shin, the son of the late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

The late Park Won-soon, former Mayor of Seoul's son, Park Ju-shin (38), has announced that he will not appear as a witness in the appeal trial of those who raised allegations of his military service fraud. He also clearly refused the repeated requests for physical examination.

According to the legal community on the 9th, Park submitted a letter of absence to the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 6-3 (Presiding Judges Lee Eui-young, Won Jong-chan, Park Won-cheol), which is handling the appeal trial of seven people including Yang Seung-oh for violation of the Public Official Election Act, on the 1st of this month and then left the country.

In the letter, Park stated, "Although I clearly informed the prosecutor of my intention not to attend the trial, many media outlets reported after last month's hearing as if I was going to appear, which was embarrassing," and expressed his intention, saying, "I will not appear in court nor undergo a physical examination." He added, "It is difficult to accept the demand to summon me again to the court and in front of the public for a physical examination, 11 years after the initial examination," and claimed, "Yang and others will surely continue to harass me and my family by insisting that any result is false."

Park entered the Air Force training camp in August 2011 but was discharged after which a re-examination diagnosed him with a herniated disc, resulting in a public service duty classification. When suspicions of military service fraud arose during this process, he publicly underwent an MRI and other physical examinations in February 2012.

However, seven people including Yang raised the military service fraud allegations again in June 2014 ahead of the local elections, claiming that Park had a proxy take the examination for him, and were subsequently prosecuted for spreading false information. The first trial ruled that it was clear Park had taken the examination himself and sentenced Yang and others to fines ranging from 7 million to 15 million won each.

Subsequently, the appellate court decided at last month's hearing, upon the defendants' request, to summon Park as a witness and hold a verification session to conduct MRI and X-ray imaging again of his spine, thorax, pelvis, and teeth at a hospital. This is the same examination as the one Park underwent in 2011 when he submitted documents to the Military Manpower Administration and received a grade 4 classification.

In the letter of absence disclosed to the media through his legal representative on that day, Park claimed, "The suspicions were proven false by the 2012 verification results at Severance Hospital." He added, "The person who raised the issue took responsibility and voluntarily resigned from the assembly, and the credibility of the physical examination was repeatedly recognized by multiple witnesses and judges in subsequent trials," and "The prosecution also dismissed the charges of my military service fraud in 2013, and all appeals and re-appeals were rejected." He continued, "It is despairing that as a civilian, I must endure constant politically motivated attacks and suffering in the situation where my father has passed away," and appealed, "Please understand once again that I have indirectly testified on many matters through the lawyers representing me during multiple trials."

With Park submitting the letter of absence and leaving the country, it appears that the witness examination of Park will not take place at the hearing scheduled for the 11th.

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