5-Year-Long Trial Over 'Judicial Manipulation Allegations'... Former Chief Justice Yang Seung-tae Acquitted of All Charges

President Yoon Suk-yeol and Han Dong-hoon, People Power Party Emergency Committee Chairman, Directed Investigation at the Time
Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office "Careful Analysis of Fact Recognition and Legal Judgment... Decision on Appeal Pending"

Former Chief Justice Yang Seung-tae, who was implicated in the judicial corruption scandal, was acquitted in the first trial. Former Supreme Court Justices Ko Young-han and Park Byung-dae, who were tried together, were also acquitted.

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 35-1 (Presiding Judges Lee Jong-min, Lim Jeong-taek, Min So-young) held a sentencing hearing on the 26th from 2 p.m. for over four hours. While some charges could be recognized as abuse of authority, the court judged that there was no evidence of conspiracy to commit the crimes against former Chief Justice Yang based solely on the evidence presented by the prosecution. Among the 14 former and current judges indicted on charges related to the judicial corruption scandal, only two?former Planning and Coordination Officer Lee Min-geol and former Supreme Court Sentencing Committee Standing Member Lee Gyu-jin?have been found guilty so far.

The prosecution’s investigation into the judicial corruption allegations took place while President Yoon Suk-yeol was the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office. Han Dong-hoon, Emergency Response Committee Member of the People Power Party, led the investigation as the third deputy prosecutor of the Central District Prosecutors’ Office at that time. Former Chief Justice Yang was indicted on 47 criminal charges, including interference in various trials, creating a blacklist of judges, restraining the Constitutional Court, and embezzlement of slush funds.

Immediately after the first trial verdict for former Chief Justice Yang and others, the prosecution issued a statement saying, "The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office will carefully analyze the factual findings and legal judgments of the first trial verdict to decide whether to appeal."

After the trial ended, former Chief Justice Yang left the courthouse saying, "This is a natural outcome," and added, "I pay my respects to the court for making such a clear judgment."