"Yoon Defamation" False Reporting Case: Court to Summon Yoon Seokyeol as Witness

Actual Appearance as Witness Unlikely

Former President Yoon Seokyeol, who is accused of insurrection related to the December 3 martial law incident, is leaving the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, after completing the pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant review) on July 9. Photo by Yonhap News

The court presiding over the so-called "Yoon Seokyeol defamation" false reporting case will summon former President Yoon Seokyeol as a witness.

The 35th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Baek Daehyun) held a trial on the 19th for Kim Manbae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, former media union leader Shin Hakrim, and Newstapa reporters Kim Yongjin and Han Sangjin, who have been indicted on charges including violation of the Information and Communications Network Act (defamation).

The court accepted the defendants' request and decided to call former President Yoon as a witness, scheduling the witness examination for the 24th of next month.

Defamation charges are subject to prosecution only if the victim expresses a desire for punishment, as it is an offense not prosecuted against the victim's will. The court intends to confirm former President Yoon's intention regarding punishment as he is the party concerned. In addition to defamation, simple assault, negligent injury, and intimidation are also offenses not prosecuted against the victim's will.

However, the likelihood of former President Yoon actually appearing as a witness seems extremely low. In his own trial on charges of leading an insurrection and abuse of power, former President Yoon has already failed to appear ten consecutive times, citing health reasons, even at the risk of procedural disadvantages such as losing the opportunity to state his position on evidence.

Previously, Kim and former chairman Shin conducted an interview in September 2021, claiming that "former President Yoon, while at the Central Investigation Department of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in 2011, covered up the investigation into loan broker Cho Woohyung during the Busan Savings Bank case."

Subsequently, on March 4 of the following year ahead of the presidential election, Newstapa reported, citing the interview, that former President Yoon had quashed the investigation into the Busan Savings Bank case.

The prosecution believes that the two conspired with the intention of influencing the presidential election, and that Kim gave former chairman Shin 165 million won disguised as payment for books as compensation for the "false interview." As a result, Kim, former chairman Shin, and the two Newstapa reporters were brought to trial in July last year on defamation charges against former President Yoon.