Former President Yoon Suk-yeol entering the courtroom [Photo courtesy of Joint Press Corps] 

Following former President Yoon Suk-yeol, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and former Defense Intelligence Commander Noh Sang-won have filed requests to recuse the appellate court judges in their rebellion charges case. Consequently, the appellate trial for these individuals has been suspended from its first hearing.

On the 14th, the Criminal Division 12-1 of the Seoul High Court (Judges Lee Seung-cheol, Jo Jin-gu, and Kim Min-a), which specializes in rebellion cases, stated during the first hearing for former President Yoon's case regarding charges of leading a rebellion, "As former President Yoon's side has filed a motion to recuse the judges, the proceedings will be separated, and the hearing date will be set later."

This means that among the eight defendants in this case, only former President Yoon's trial will be separated, and the next hearing date will not be immediately set. Neither former President Yoon nor his legal team were present in court on this day.

The court further announced that it had previously dismissed and rejected the request by co-defendant former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun's side for a constitutional review of the Rebellion Special Act.

In response, former Minister Kim's lawyer argued that it was inappropriate for the rebellion special court to rule on the constitutionality of the Rebellion Special Act and requested time to consider filing a motion to recuse the judges.

The court declared a 5-minute recess, after which former Minister Kim, former Commander Noh, and former Military Police Commander of the Third Army Corps Kim Yong-gun (Colonel) all filed motions to recuse the judges.

Half of the eight defendants, including former President Yoon, have filed motions to recuse the judges.

The special prosecution team stated, "It is evident that there is an intent to delay the proceedings through the verbal and written recusal requests made in court today," and urged, "Please issue a decisive and summary dismissal."

However, the court responded, "Although the current court also regrets this, at this stage, it cannot be clearly seen as an intent to delay the proceedings, so we will not issue a summary dismissal." The court added, "It would be better for procedural clarity to resolve this matter first before proceeding."

Subsequently, the legal teams for former Minister Kim, former Commander Noh, and former Commander Kim all left the courtroom.

Kim Yong-hyun at Yoon's rebellion trial: "Symbolic martial law"... Defends Yoon again in court [Yonhap News Archive]

It appears that the court will separate the proceedings for their defense as well and postpone the setting of hearing dates.

Whether their trials will proceed is expected to depend on whether the court accepts the recusal requests. Former President Yoon's recusal request has been assigned to Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul High Court, which also handles rebellion cases (Presiding Judge Yoon Sung-sik).

According to the Criminal Procedure Act, when a motion to recuse a judge is filed, the proceedings of that trial must be suspended, unless it is clearly for the purpose of delaying the lawsuit or the proper procedural steps have not been followed.

For the time being, the trial is expected to proceed only for the remaining defendants: former National Police Agency Commissioner Cho Ji-ho, former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Kim Bong-sik, former National Assembly Security Service Commander Mok Hyun-tae, and former Investigation Planning and Coordination Officer Yoon Seung-young.

Former President Yoon filed a motion to recuse all three judges in Criminal Division 12-1 of the Seoul High Court the previous day.

The reason cited was that this panel of judges, in their ruling on the appellate case of former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo for charges of engaging in important rebellion duties on the 7th, had effectively acknowledged former President Yoon's charges of leading a rebellion as guilty.

The legal team argued, "The ruling in former Prime Minister Han's case, which acknowledged former President Yoon's charges and publicly announced them, constitutes objective circumstances where these judges had already formed a distorted perception and prejudice based on a biased understanding before any arguments were presented in former President Yoon's appeal," and asserted, "This falls under the grounds for recusal: 'when there is a risk that a judge may render an unfair trial'."

The legal team also raised issues with the court not consolidating or jointly sentencing multiple rebellion cases.

The legal team pointed out, "Although the elements of the crime of rebellion can only be argued in former President Yoon's case, a judgment is being made first in cases where this content was not an issue, which then affects former President Yoon's case, and then affects other cases, creating a vicious cycle."

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