At a press briefing at the court in Seoul, spokesperson Yu Jemin said that under the special counsel law on insurrection, the deadline to submit an appellate brief in cases indicted by a special prosecutor has been shortened to seven days from 20.
Yu said rules requiring a sentencing date do not apply, but procedures under a special act still do. With multiple defendants and mandatory service of documents on defense lawyers, he said, the scheduling may appear slow because the court must follow legal steps to protect defendants’ rights. He added that the panel has been moving as quickly as possible, including preparing proof plans before deadlines expire.
Yoon’s case has drawn public criticism because no first hearing had been set even after the first trial verdict was delivered Feb. 19. The Seoul High Court issued its first public explanation on the matter Tuesday.
The appeal is being handled by the Seoul High Court’s Criminal Division 12-1. In materials separately released by the court, it said pretrial hearings will run from April 27 through May 7, with trial dates to be set from May 14.
Yu also outlined operations and administrative support for the court’s “insurrection-dedicated panel,” established Feb. 23. The court said it is concentrating its resources to process special counsel and insurrection-related cases quickly and fairly.
The dedicated panel is based on the “Special Act on the Trial of Criminal Cases, Including Insurrection and Foreign Aggression Cases,” promulgated in January 2016. Under the law, the Seoul High Court must operate at least two dedicated panels, with members selected after deliberation by the full judges’ meeting.
The court said it held multiple full judges’ meetings after the law took effect to set selection principles and adopted random draws to ensure transparency.
The Seoul High Court said it expanded its criminal trial divisions to 16 from 14 and designated the two newly added divisions as insurrection-dedicated panels to handle only those cases, aiming to prevent delays in ordinary criminal trials.
Four cases have been assigned to the dedicated panels and are under review, the court said, adding that not every case investigated by a special prosecutor is automatically sent to those panels.
To improve efficiency, the court said it has provided unusual levels of administrative support. It doubled staffing compared with ordinary panels and assigned four court reporters to each dedicated panel, compared with fewer than one per panel in typical cases.
It also said it deploys four to six court security officers on major hearing days and has added another courtroom equipped for overflow viewing. The court said it upgraded West Annex Courtroom 103 to enable relay viewing to meet the public’s right to know.
The court said it livestreams major proceedings on YouTube and has added on-screen captions to guide viewers through steps such as defendant questioning, witness examination and closing arguments.
On how much of the appeal ruling will be released, Yu said the court is conducting a comprehensive review balancing anonymization guidelines and the public’s right to know.
The court said verdicts in major special counsel cases will be concentrated starting next week, beginning with a ruling related to first lady Kim Keon Hee on April 27.
A Seoul High Court official said operation of the dedicated panels will not delay other criminal cases and that the court will mobilize its administrative capacity to deliver fair and swift results.
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.