Cho Hyunjoon, Chairman of Hyosung, Fails to Appear as Witness in 'Hyosung Brothers' Feud' Trial...Witness Examination Rescheduled for August
by Choi Taewon
Published 17 Apr.2026 12:52(KST)
PPT Hearing Scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on June 19
Cho Hyunjoon, Chairman of Hyosung Group, who was called as a witness in the trial of former Hyosung Heavy Industries Vice President Cho Hyunmoon, who has been indicted on charges of attempted coercion, failed to appear at the scheduled hearing. The court has rescheduled the witness examination for Chairman Cho to August.
On the morning of April 17, the Seoul Central District Court's 25th Criminal Division (Presiding Judge Lee Sungyeol) held a hearing on the attempted coercion case involving former Vice President Cho. Originally, the witness examination of Chairman Cho was scheduled for that day. However, since Chairman Cho's representatives submitted a statement of non-attendance in advance, the examination did not proceed.
The court has newly set the witness examination dates for August 21 and August 28. The court also requested the prosecution to contact the witness and inform the court in advance whether he will attend.
On this date, after the statement on the substance of the charges, the proceedings focused on coordinating the schedule for the trial renewal process and the PowerPoint (PPT) presentation hearing. Both the defense and the prosecution announced they would present their arguments via PPT, so the hearing for statements on the charges and the PPT session was separately scheduled for June 19 at 2:00 p.m. The statement on the charges refers to the procedure at the first criminal trial hearing where the defendant states whether they admit or deny the charges after the prosecutor reads the indictment.
In the process, the defense raised concerns about the admissibility of the investigation report submitted by the prosecution. The defense for former Vice President Cho argued, "The practice of submitting documents reflecting internal opinions exchanged within investigative agencies as if they were objective evidence must be rectified in this case."
The issue of whether illegally collected evidence could be presented in court during the prosecution's PPT presentation was also raised. The defense for former Vice President Cho stated, "According to a recent Supreme Court ruling, illegally collected evidence cannot be presented in court at all," and requested the prosecution to ensure that such evidence does not appear in their PPT materials. In response, the prosecution said, "Our basic position is that the evidence is not illegally collected," but added, "We will avoid presenting the evidence in a way that directly displays it."
Former Vice President Cho and Chairman Cho have been engaged in a so-called "brotherly feud" over management control of Hyosung Group since 2014. In March 2017, Chairman Cho filed a criminal complaint against former Vice President Cho, claiming that he threatened to hand over various corruption-related documents to prosecutors unless Hyosung affiliates agreed to purchase shares from him at a high price. In November 2022, prosecutors indicted former Vice President Cho on charges of attempted coercion, among others. At the first trial held in May 2023, former Vice President Cho denied all charges.
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