Innovation Party: "Yoon's Life Sentence Verdict Starkly Exposes the Need for Judicial Reform"

"Judicial Reform, an Irresistible Trend"

The Homeland Innovation Party on the 19th declared its commitment to judicial reform, taking issue with the first-instance ruling on former President Yoon Sukyeol’s insurrection charges. The party criticized the judiciary as having brought the situation upon itself.

Park Byeongeon, senior spokesperson of the Innovation Party, in a commentary that day, raised objections to Judge Ji Guyoun’s application of sentencing factors in relation to former President Yoon’s insurrection charges. Senior Spokesperson Park said, "In the process of settling the insurrection, the judiciary failed to properly carry out the mission of overcoming the insurrection that the people entrusted to it," adding, "Presiding Judge Ji Guyoun should not be transferred to the Seoul Northern District Court, but should instead take responsibility and resign."

Referring to the need for judicial reform, he said, "If the end of Yoon Sukyeol’s prosecutorial dictatorship regime was life imprisonment, then the necessity of judicial reform has now become an irresistible trend among the people," and added, "The trial process on defendant Yoon Sukyeol’s insurrection charges starkly demonstrated the need for judicial reform."

On the 16th, in the Seoul Station concourse, citizens are watching the trial in which the court sentenced former President Yoon Sukyeol to five years in prison in the first trial on charges including obstruction of arrest and infringement of Cabinet members' deliberation rights. 2026.1.16 Photo by Kang Jinhyung

Senior Spokesperson Park said, "Taking the first-instance verdict in Yoon Sukyeol’s insurrection trial as a turning point, the Innovation Party will devote itself even more to pushing for judicial reform, including the abolition of the Court Administration Office and the introduction of constitutional complaints against court rulings."

In addition, the Innovation Party also criticized Judge Ji’s remark that "You must not steal a candle in order to read the Bible," calling it "a metaphor implying that the purpose of Yoon Sukyeol’s execution of the insurrection was legitimate." Senior Spokesperson Park pointed out, "Even while handing down the heavy sentence of life imprisonment, the reasoning of the ruling only served to further amplify public controversy, which was highly inappropriate."