The Seoul High Court has decided to operate a "concentrated trial panel" for appellate cases involving the three major special prosecutor cases-insurrection, Kim Keonhee, and the death of a Marine in the line of duty-in order to expedite proceedings. Following the Seoul Central District Court, which handled the first-instance trials for the special prosecutor cases, the Seoul High Court, responsible for appeals, has also established measures for swift trials.
On the 22nd, the Seoul High Court announced this decision after holding a meeting of all criminal judges, presided over by Senior Presiding Judge Hong Donggi.
Previously, on the 18th, the Seoul Central District Court had taken steps to support the trials for the three major special prosecutor cases, such as assigning an additional judge to Criminal Division 25 (Presiding Judge Ji Guyoun), which is handling the insurrection case. The Seoul High Court appears to have prepared its own countermeasures in response to concerns from the political sphere about possible trial delays.
The Seoul High Court stated, "To ensure thorough and prompt hearings of certain cases, it is necessary to assign cases with identical issues or overlapping facts to the same panel for concentrated review whenever possible." The court added, "The size of the concentrated trial panel will be further discussed after reviewing the progress of the first-instance trials at the Central District Court and the volume of appellate cases."
Unlike the usual procedure, where cases are first assigned and then reallocated if grounds for disqualification or recusal arise, the court will first confirm such grounds with the criminal judges and then proceed with random computerized assignment, excluding those with conflicts.
In addition, to support the concentrated trial panel, the court will suspend the assignment of other cases to that panel and is actively considering reallocating some ongoing cases to other panels.
The Seoul High Court also stated, "Panels assigned to specific cases will not be given other special prosecutor-related indictment cases, except for those related to the assigned case," and added, "In principle, once a panel is designated as a concentrated trial panel, no further reassignment will take place to ensure prompt and focused proceedings."
Furthermore, the Seoul High Court plans to request the National Court Administration to assign additional judges in next February’s regular personnel appointments in order to increase the number of criminal trial panels by at least two. The court also intends to propose the assignment of four to five additional law clerks per panel to assist judges in concentrated trials.
Regarding the broadcasting of special prosecutor case trials, the court stated, "We shared the current status of preparations, including the content of the Special Prosecutor Act, the operation of the trial broadcast preparation team at the Seoul Court Complex, and the methods and equipment for broadcasting." The court added, "We will gather the opinions of the judges and reflect them in the implementation of trial broadcasts."
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