Court Drops Insurrection Charges Against Former Officials Park and Hwang

The court once more denied the bench warrant for former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, who is accused of involvement in the December 3 emer...

The court once more denied the bench warrant for former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, who is accused of involvement in the December 3 emergency martial law knowing it was unconstitutional and unlawful. On the 14th, the court also dismissed the bench warrant for former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who was facing arrest on charges of inciting insurrection. Both Park and Hwang had previously held the position of Justice Minister. The repeated rejection of the bench warrants, requested by the special counsel team investigating the insurrection led by Cho Eun-suk, is anticipated to create a significant impact on the ongoing investigation.

Presiding Judge Nam Se-jin from the Seoul Central District Court's warrant department announced on the 14th that, following a thorough examination of Park's warrant on the 13th, the court rejected the special counsel's request. Judge Nam remarked, "Even after thoroughly reviewing the additional criminal charges and newly gathered evidence since the prior warrant denial, there are still areas of contention in the accusations, which necessitates providing adequate opportunity for defense outside of detention." The judge further noted, "Taking into account the evidence collected so far, the development of the investigation, his stable living situation, family connections, and professional background, it is challenging to determine that there is a risk of evidence tampering or fleeing."

The special prosecutor initially sought a bench warrant for Park on the 9th of last month, but the court rejected it at that time, noting, "There is room for debate about how Park became aware of the illegality of the martial law, the exact nature of that awareness, and whether or not the actions he took were unlawful." Following further investigations, the special prosecutor submitted another request for the warrant.

The second major review of Park's warrant took about 4 hours and 43 minutes, starting at 10:10 a.m. and ending at 2:53 p.m. the day before. The special counsel team supported the need for Park's detention by presenting a 235-page opinion document and 163 PowerPoint slides.

The special counsel team specifically highlighted the unlawful nature of the "post-martial law document preparation directive." On December 4 of last year, following the lifting of martial law, Park directed Ministry of Justice employees to create a document outlining the Democratic Party of Korea's repeated impeachment efforts and budget reductions, which former President Yoon had used as justifications for imposing martial law. The special counsel argued that this order represented an abuse of power, as it compelled subordinates to carry out tasks beyond their responsibilities to support the martial law—something that was not mentioned during the initial warrant examination.

However, Park's team denied the claims, saying, "We are sorry we couldn't stop the emergency martial law, but preparing the post-martial law documents was simply an order to get ready for the Ministry of Justice's responsibilities." Shortly after the warrant was dismissed, Park left the Seoul Detention Center and stated, "I respect and appreciate the court's decision. My stance hasn't changed." With Park's warrant once again denied, delays are expected in the ongoing investigations related to the insurrection case, including that of former Chief of the Correctional Services Bureau at the Ministry of Justice, Shin Yong-hae.

The evaluation of Hwang's warrant was carried out by Presiding Judge Park Jeong-ho from the Seoul Central District Court's warrant department. On the morning of the 14th around 3 a.m., Judge Park revoked the warrant, stating, "The justification for detention is inadequate." The judge mentioned, "A considerable amount of objective factual evidence seems to have been gathered, but there is inadequate proof of reasons for detention, such as the risk of fleeing or destroying evidence."

Hwang was accused of inciting rebellion after sharing posts on Facebook right after the December 3 martial law announcement: "Emergency martial law has been imposed. The main focus now is to avoid national disorder," "The pro-North Korea Jusapa forces and those responsible for election fraud who ruined the country must be eliminated this time," and "Arrest National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik. Arrest Han Dong-hoon, who is hindering the president's actions."

After departing the detention facility early that day, Hwang stated, "This was a ridiculous effort to make an arrest," and "The lengthy document outlining the reasons for the arrest has less than one page concerning me."