Yoon's Treason Criminal Trial and Lee's 'Daejangdong' Judge to Remain at Central District Court This Year

Announcement of Regular Judicial Appointments on the 7th
Presiding Judges for Yoon and Lee Trials to Remain in Place

Presiding judges handling the trials of President Yoon Suk-yeol on charges of leading a rebellion and the criminal trials of Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung regarding the Daejang-dong development corruption allegations will remain at their current courts.

The Supreme Court announced the regular personnel appointments for district court chief judges and lower judges on the 7th, effective from the 24th. Ji Gwi-yeon, chief judge of the Criminal Division 25 at Seoul Central District Court, who is in charge of the rebellion trials of President Yoon, former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, Police Commissioner Cho Ji-ho, and former Seoul Police Commissioner Kim Bong-sik, will remain at Seoul Central District Court. However, the associate judges will be replaced. Lee Dong-hyung, the presiding judge for President Yoon’s case, will move to Seoul Northern District Court, and Judge Joo Cheol-hyun will transfer to the Sokcho branch of Chuncheon District Court.

Kim Dong-hyun, chief judge of the Criminal Division 33 at Seoul Central District Court, who presides over the trials related to Lee Jae-myung’s Daejang-dong, Baekhyeon-dong, and Wirye New Town development corruption and the Seongnam FC case, will also remain at his current court. Shin Jin-woo, chief judge of the Criminal Division 11 at Suwon District Court, who is handling the Ssangbangwool North Korea remittance case, will transfer to Suwon High Court. The associate judges of these two trial divisions will also be replaced. Judge Ahn Geun-hong, the presiding judge for the Daejang-dong and related corruption cases, will move to the Sangju branch of Daegu District Court and Daegu Family Court, while Judge Kim Ji-young, presiding over the North Korea remittance case, will transfer to Seoul Central District Court.

However, since this personnel announcement only determines which court judges will belong to, presiding judges may be reassigned to different trial divisions within the same court depending on internal workload adjustments. Typically, workload assignments are decided about two weeks after the regular personnel appointments. The Supreme Court stated, "In this regular personnel appointment, to secure continuity of trials amid prolonged workload periods and to enhance judges’ stability in their lives, we have improved the transfer system for judges."

Accordingly, the number of rotations for district court chief judges has been reduced, and overall transfers of judges have been decreased. In this appointment, 140 district court judges were appointed as district court chief judges, of whom 66 are women. Twenty new branch court chiefs were appointed, nearly half of whom?9?are female judges.