Former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was acquitted of perjury charges in a trial related to former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo's insurrection case, will face an appeal hearing on July 1.
According to legal sources on June 28, the Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 1, led by Judge Yoon Seong-sik, will conduct the first hearing of Yoon's appeal at 2 PM.
Yoon was indicted for allegedly providing false testimony during the first trial concerning Han's charges of engaging in insurrection-related duties. He was accused of falsely claiming that a Cabinet meeting had been planned prior to Han's suggestion to convene it during the emergency martial law declaration on December 3.
During the trial, the special prosecutor's team asked Yoon, "Did Han suggest convening the Cabinet meeting to create a legal appearance?" Yoon strongly objected, stating, "Cabinet members are not puppets to create a facade; isn't that a biased question?" The special prosecutor's team later deemed his statement as false testimony, leading to the perjury charges against him.
However, on May 28, the first trial court acquitted Yoon, ruling that the prosecution and special prosecutor's claims were not sufficiently proven and that it was difficult to conclude that Yoon's testimony was a "false statement contrary to memory."
The court stated, "Perjury occurs when a person testifies contrary to their own experiences, while subjective evaluations or opinions do not constitute perjury." This implies that even if the meeting convened on the day of the martial law declaration lacked legal Cabinet meeting efficacy, Yoon's assertion that he intended to convene a legally constituted Cabinet meeting from the outset was merely a subjective evaluation and not punishable.
The special prosecutor's team filed an appeal against the acquittal on June 2. The appeal hearing is expected to involve intense legal arguments over whether Yoon's statements were mere expressions of opinion or intentional distortions of fact.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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