At a closing hearing Monday before the Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Division 33, the special counsel team led by Cho Eun-seok requested the sentence for Park on charges including playing a key role in an insurrection and abuse of authority. The team urged the court to impose a severe judgment “to sound the alarm for a ‘legal technician’ who destroys the law in the name of the law.”
On the insurrection allegation, the special counsel said Park “actively went along” so that “Yoon Suk Yeol’s crime using martial law as a means could succeed,” and that he took the lead in justifying and procedurally supporting it.
On the allegation involving Kim, the team said Park accepted and carried out “an improper request” from the president’s wife, adding that his actions should be seen not as communication but as “active collusion tied to power.”
Park is accused of sequentially joining Yoon’s alleged insurrection after the Dec. 3, 2024, martial law declaration by convening a Justice Ministry executives’ meeting and ordering reviews of dispatching prosecutors to a joint investigation headquarters, checking correctional facilities’ capacity, and having staff responsible for travel bans report to work.
He is also accused of giving improper instructions to subordinates after receiving a request from Kim in May last year to determine how a dedicated investigative team at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office was formed for a case involving the receipt of a luxury bag.
The court is scheduled to deliver its first-trial verdict on June 9.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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