April 14, 2025
Seoul – The shameful former President Yoon Suk Yeol will be tried on Monday for allegations of announcing a breach of martial law, on December 3, 2024, his first official court appearance since being removed from office by the Constitutional Court earlier this month.
The first hearing required Yoon to appear, held in Seoul's Central District Court and proposed criticism of expelled leaders from public view, in the way the former president held a trial in the criminal court.
According to the court, the criminal trial will begin at 10 a.m. in Yoon, and the former president will be allowed to enter the court building through an underground parking lot, minimizing public contact.
The court explained that the decision was for security reasons, inconvenience caused to other petitioners and protection of court construction.
Although the defendants were not obliged to conduct a prepared hearing in court, and the court discussed the way the trial was conducted, they had to attend the formal hearing of the criminal trial in person.
The hearing comes 54 days after Yoon attends the first preliminary hearing on February 20 trial.
The court also announced that the media would not allow photos or videotapes to be taken in court for Monday’s hearings.
The judge may grant permission to the court for photography under the defendant's agreement. Even without the accused's consent, the court may approve photography or shooting within the court, if necessary for the public interest.
The court did not give a specific reason why photography or video was chosen not to be allowed.
The first official hearing of former President Geun-Hye’s abuse of power in 2017 and former President Lee Myung-Bak’s bribery and embezzlement in 2018 were both made public through the media.
The court at that time allowed Park and Lee's court appearance to be made public after considering the high public interest, its importance and broader public interest in the case.
In a press conference in the National Assembly on Saturday, Rep. Lee Geon Tae, spokesman for South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party, criticized the court's ruling, calling it “an undeniable privilege.”
Li said the court cannot be unaware of the major public interests related to Yin Guan’s criminal trial.
“It is not justified and legal to allow Yoon to be allowed to be accused of being the leader of the uprising, and his use of underground parking lots for court entry,” Lee said.
Lee believes Yoon has received preferential treatment before because the court arbitrarily interprets the law to cancel his detention and the prosecution decided to waive his right to appeal the decision.
The MP said Yoon continued to receive special treatment even after Yoon was removed from office by the Constitutional Court ruling.
Lee added that public suspicion about the court was granted only the procedural privileges granted to Yoon before the legal proceedings officially began.
Meanwhile, Yoon (accused of uprising on January 26) is charged – his legal representative is expected to deny the allegations and maintain his initial stance at a pre-trial hearing in February.
Some in the legal community expect Yoon to repeat statements similar to statements made in previous improvisation trials. Among them is his claim that the short-lived martial law was intended to resist the national crisis and called on the public to attempt to paralyze state affairs by the main opposition parties.
Yoon appeared in the Seoul Central District Court for trial in February and became the first chairman to be tried on criminal charges.
But Yoon is far from the first former president’s trial, as before Yoon, Chun Doo-Hwan, Roh Tae-Woo, Lee Myung-Bak and Park Geun-Hye all face criminal charges after their respective presidency.
Under the Crime Act, those convicted of leading an uprising may face death or life imprisonment.
Chun, the convicted former president, was sentenced to death in his first trial judgment. The Supreme Court confirmed the High Court's ruling that it reduced Chun's sentence on life imprisonment. But after two years in prison, he was pardoned by former President Kim Young-Sam in 1997.
