Court also rejects appeal against Kim Yong-hyun's bail request on 'sedition charges'

Former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun appealed the court's decision to deny bail, but the appeal was rejected. As a result, former Minister Kim will continue to stand trial while in custody.

Former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun. Photo by Yonhap News

On the 12th, the 20th Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judges Hong Dong-gi, Lee Bong-min, and Lee In-su) dismissed former Minister Kim's appeal against the court's decision to deny bail.

Earlier, the 25th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Ji Gwi-yeon) denied former Minister Kim's bail request in January. At that time, the court cited as reasons for denial that the maximum penalty for the charge of engaging in important duties related to rebellion against him was death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment or detention exceeding 10 years.

Former Minister Kim was indicted while in custody on December 27 last year on charges of ordering the deployment of armed martial law troops to block the National Assembly and prevent the resolution to lift martial law, together with President Yoon Seok-yeol. He is also accused of ordering former Commander of the Defense Counterintelligence Command Yeo In-hyung to arrest and detain about ten key figures, including Woo Won-shik, Speaker of the National Assembly, Han Dong-hoon, former leader of the People Power Party, and Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea.

Meanwhile, the court also dismissed former Minister Kim's request to cancel his detention on the 20th of last month. At that time, the court stated that the request was unfounded as it did not meet the criteria under Article 93 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which requires that "there is no reason for detention or the reason has disappeared."

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