Korea's former Supreme Court chief justice acquitted of 47 charges

A court on Friday acquitted former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae of all 47 charges against him, largely related to his alleged abuse of judiciary power.

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae leaves the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul after attending his final hearing on Sept. 15, 2023. The court on Friday acquitted him of all 47 charges, including accusations of seriously breaching his duties as a judge by meddling in trials. [NEWS1]

A court on Friday acquitted former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae of all 47 charges against him, largely related to his alleged abuse of judiciary power.

The Seoul Central District Court concluded that it did not find Yang guilty of any of the charges pressed against him, including the abuse of his authority to interfere with trials, as part of unconstitutional collusion with the ousted former Park Geun-hye administration.

Yang, 74, served as the head of the Supreme Court from 2011 to 2017.

The hearing, which lasted over 4 hours on Friday, took place almost 5 years after prosecutors indicted Yang in 2019. A total of 290 court hearings have been held since.

The 47 accusations against him included the abuse of authority to pursue his goal of establishing a new appeals court, creating a "blacklist" of justices and meddling in trials to influence politically sensitive trials for former President Park, which includes a compensation suit filed by Japan’s wartime forced labor victims.

The court on the same day also acquitted Park Byoung-dae and Ko Young-han, former Supreme Court justices who were indicted in the same case. Prosecutors had sought a 7-year prison term for Yang, 5 years for Park and 4 years for Ko.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said that it will decide whether or not to appeal the case after carefully reviewing the ruling.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]