Issues related to โproviding opinion polls and whether they constitute political fund donationsโ and โinterpretation of important civil war missionsโ
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lee Mi-ryeong = On the 29th, the Supreme Court's plenary body will hold a plenary hearing on the appellate trial of first lady Kim Kun-hee's three major allegations and former Prime Minister Han Deok-soo and former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min's rebellion case.
According to the legal community on the 22nd, the Supreme Court will hold a plenary session on the 29th to hear cases such as Ms. Kim's violation of the Capital Markets Act and former Prime Minister Han and former Minister Lee's participation in important civil war duties.
Normally, the battle ceremony is held once a month. However, the continuation date can be set at any time.
Regarding the suspicion of the 'Myung Tae-gyun public opinion poll', the Supreme Court explained that the issue is 'whether the conduct of the public opinion poll or the provision of the results constitutes a political fund donation prohibited by the Political Fund Act.'
After First Lady Kim and former President Yoon Seok-yeol received conflicting judgments from lower courts, they decided to review the matter.
Former President Yoon and First Lady Kim were each tried on charges of receiving 58 opinion polls worth a total of 270 million won for free from political broker Myung Tae-gyun between June 2021 and March 2022.
Mrs. Kim was found not guilty on the charges in the first and second trials.
It was determined that Mr. Myeong unilaterally provided the opinion poll without prior consultation with former President Yoon and his wife for the purpose of expanding the sales activities or political influence of the Future Korea Research Institute, which he ran.
However, on July 13, the trial court in the first trial of former President Yoon's case found him guilty of receiving 14 public opinion polls for free and sentenced him to two years in prison.
The court acknowledged the โconcurrence of sequential and implicit intentionsโ between former President Yoon and his wife and Mr. Myeong, and found former President Yoon guilty on the premise that Mrs. Kim was also a co-principal.
Initially, the Supreme Court was scheduled to proceed with the appellate sentencing in Ms. Kim's case on July 16, but after former President Yoon's first trial sentencing, it accepted a request for a postponement from special prosecutor Min Joong-ki's team and postponed the sentencing to the 24th of the same month.
Afterwards, on the 23rd, a day before this, the sentencing date was postponed again to be referred to the plenary session, and the first plenary agreement meeting was held in about two months, and a full-scale hearing regarding the public opinion poll suspicions began.
In the second trial of this case, Ms. Kim was found guilty of violating the Political Fund Act, as well as part of the charge of participating in the stock price manipulation of Deutsche Motors and receiving bribes from the Unification Church, and was sentenced to four years in prison and a fine of 50 million won.
The Supreme Court announced that it would consider the 'interpretation and scope of the crime of engaging in important duties for insurrection' as an issue in relation to former Prime Minister Han Deok-soo and former Minister Lee Sang-min, who were indicted on charges of rebellion related to martial law on December 3.
The Supreme Court announced in a press notice on the 5th of last month, "The civil war case between former Prime Minister Han Deok-soo and former Minister Lee Sang-min is of very high national interest and historically requires judicial evaluation, and the defendants are accomplices, so they need to be tried together," and added, "It will be tried en banc at the request of each subcommittee."
Former Prime Minister Han Deok-soo is accused of suggesting holding a Cabinet meeting to create the appearance that the martial law declaration was made after deliberation by the State Council, and of trying to get signatures from the State Council members after the declaration of martial law.
Former Minister Lee Sang-min is accused of receiving orders from former President Yoon to block major institutions, including the National Assembly, and to cut off power and water supply to media outlets, and to issue instructions to the head of the National Fire Agency to โtake appropriate measures.โ
Former Prime Minister Han was sentenced to 23 years in prison in the first trial, but his sentence was reduced to 15 years in prison in the second trial, and former Minister Lee was sentenced to 7 years in prison in the first trial, but his sentence was increased to 9 years in prison in the second trial.
