Panel Changed for 'Lee Jongseop Escape Allegation' Case: "Presiding Judge Was University Classmate of Lee Siwon"

The panel of judges assigned to hear the case of former President Yoon Suk-yeol, who has been indicted on charges of appointing former Defense Minister Lee Jongseop as ambassador to Australia to facilitate his escape, has been changed.

Siwon Lee, former Secretary for Public Discipline at the Presidential Office, is appearing on the 26th as a suspect to be investigated by the Special Prosecutor's Team for the Honorable Marine Officer Myunghyun Lee in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

On December 4, the Seoul Central District Court announced that the case involving former President Yoon, who faces charges of harboring a criminal and abuse of power, has been reassigned from the 34th Criminal Division (Presiding Judge Han Sungjin) to the 22nd Criminal Division (Presiding Judge Cho Hyungwoo).

The reassignment was requested because Presiding Judge Han Sungjin and one of the defendants, Siwon Lee, former Secretary for Public Discipline, were classmates in the same department at university. The Central District Court determined that there was sufficient reason for the reassignment. Both Judge Han and former Secretary Lee graduated from the Department of Public Law at Seoul National University School of Law.

Previously, the Special Prosecutor's Team for the Honorable Marine Officer Myunghyun Lee indicted six major suspects, including former President Yoon and former Secretary Lee. The indictment list also included former National Security Office Chiefs Cho Taeyong and Jang Hojin, former Justice Minister Park Sungjae, and former Vice Minister of Justice Shim Woojeong. They are accused of appointing former Minister Lee as ambassador to Australia and assisting his departure and return, in order to help him escape overseas while he was under investigation as a suspect in the "Corporal Chae investigation interference allegations."

The newly assigned panel is also handling the case of former 1st Marine Division Commander Lim Sungkeun, which was prosecuted by the Special Prosecutor's Team for the Honorable Marine Officer Myunghyun Lee. Former Commander Lim is accused of neglecting his duty of safety by ordering underwater search operations in July 2023 in Yecheon County's flood disaster site without providing life jackets or other safety equipment, requiring personnel to enter water up to their waists.

The 22nd Criminal Division also presided over the first trial of private contractors involved in the Daejang-dong development corruption scandal. In October, the panel sentenced Kim Manbae, the major shareholder of Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, Yoo Donggyu, former Head of Planning at Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, Nam Wook, the lawyer who initiated the project, accountant Jung Younghak, and lawyer Jung Minyong-who joined Seongnam Corporation as a junior to Nam Wook and assisted their illegal activities-to prison terms and ordered their immediate detention in court.