Yoon's Detention Hearing Likely Decided on the 18th... Presided by Chief Judge Cha Eun-kyung

Major Case Assigned to Weekend Duty Judge... An Unusual Move

The decision on whether to detain President Yoon Seok-yeol, who is accused of being the 'leader of the rebellion,' is expected to be made as early as the weekend on the 18th.

The Seoul Western District Court announced on the 17th that the pre-arrest detention hearing (warrant review) for President Yoon, who is accused of leading a rebellion and abuse of authority, will be held at 2 p.m. on the 18th. The decision on whether to detain President Yoon is expected to be made late on the 18th or early on the 19th.

The unprecedented warrant review for a sitting president in constitutional history will be presided over by Chief Judge Cha Eun-kyung (Judicial Research and Training Institute class 30), who is the weekend duty judge. Since the warrant review is taking place on the weekend, Chief Judge Cha, who is the duty judge rather than the dedicated warrant judge, will conduct the hearing.

It is considered rare for such a major case to be handled by a duty judge rather than a dedicated warrant judge. In principle, the review of detention warrant requests is handled by dedicated warrant judges. Outside of working hours or on holidays, duty judges are responsible for warrant duties.

In the past, for high-profile cases such as those handled by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office Central Investigation Division that attracted public attention, dedicated warrant judges have come in on weekends to handle the cases. However, in the case of the Western District Court, the existing dedicated warrant judges, Chief Judges Lee Soon-hyung and Shin Han-mi, have previously issued or reissued arrest and search warrants. The defense team has expressed regret over their decisions. Considering not only the regulations but also various comprehensive circumstances, it is speculated that having the duty judge handle the case might ultimately be the smoothest approach.

Chief Judge Cha graduated from Ewha Womans University with a degree in economics and briefly worked as a researcher at a national policy research institute. She later passed the judicial examination, worked at a major law firm, and was appointed as a judge.

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