Police Chief States "There Was a Judge Who Acquitted Lee Jae-myung on the Martial Law Arrest List"

It has been confirmed that Police Commissioner Jo Ji-ho testified that "Chief Judge Kim Dong-hyun was on the arrest list" during the emergency martial law situation on December 3rd.

Cho Ji-ho, Commissioner of the National Police Agency. Photo by Yonhap News

According to the Special Investigation Unit of the National Police Agency on the 20th, Commissioner Jo stated in the third round of questioning the previous day that Chief Judge Kim was on the arrest list.

Chief Judge Kim presides over the Criminal Division 33 of the Seoul Central District Court and on the 25th of last month, he acquitted Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, of charges of perjury instruction in the first trial. He is also handling Lee's trials related to Daejang-dong, Baekhyeon-dong, Wirye, and Seongnam FC.

Earlier, on the 13th, the Supreme Court criticized a report stating that "Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung ordered Commissioner Jo to arrest Chief Judge Kim," saying, "If true, this is a direct and serious infringement on judicial authority. We cannot help but express grave concern," and added, "This is something that must never happen in a rule-of-law country. Prompt fact-finding and strict legal accountability must follow."

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