South Korea: Court combines former President Yoon’s rebellion trials with those of former defense and police chiefs
South Korea: The insurrection cases of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, and former police head Cho Ji-ho for their roles in the unsuccessful martial rule attempt last year were consolidated into a single trial by a Seoul court on Tuesday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the announcement was made during Yoon’s trial hearing at the Seoul Central District Court on charges of insurgency leadership. The trial was held independently from the trials of Cho and other police leadership members as well as former military and defense officials like Kim.
The court bench had previously declared that the three cases will be combined since they deal with the same facts and raise the same issues about the insurrection accusations.
Yoon, the former defense chief, and Kim Bong-sik, the former director of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, were among the six defendants in the three trials who were present in court.
Before conducting an evidence examination the following week, the bench intends to question the former defense minister’s witnesses at Tuesday’s trial.
‘Severe’ disciplinary action against five senior Army officers for their role in Yoon Suk Yeol’s unsuccessful attempt to implement martial rule last year was announced by the defense ministry on Monday.
In order to assess whether to take disciplinary action against eight senior Army officers—seven generals and one colonel—involved in the attempt to impose martial rule on December 3 of last year, the ministry convened a committee earlier this month.
Yeo In-hyung, the former head of the Defense Counterintelligence Command; Lee Jin-woo, the former head of the Capital Defence Command; and Kwak Jong-keun, the former commander of the Army Special Warfare Command, were all subject to severe disciplinary action from the aforementioned ministry.
The three are now on trial for allegedly playing important roles in an uprising by sending soldiers to the National Election Commission and the National Assembly the night martial rule was imposed.
It is thought that Yeo and Lee will be subject to the most severe kind of disciplinary action—removal from office.
According to reports, Kwak will be dismissed, the second-highest penalty possible, for his attempts to testify at Yoon’s trials, restore constitutional order, and reveal the truth about martial rule.
A colonel with the Defence Counterintelligence Command was suspended for two months, while a former Army deputy chief of staff was allegedly subjected to the second-highest degree of disciplinary discipline.