Former President Park Geun-hye visited the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters related to the sinking of the Sewol ferry on April 16, 2014. Central photo
In addition, the Democratic Party and other members of the national parliamentary rights initiated an impeachment proceeding against Judge Im Seong-geun, head of the Busan High Court. The 161 lawmakers who participated in the impeachment proposal cited the’defamation trial of former President Park Geun-hye in relation to the 7-hour suspicion of the Sewol ferry’ as one of the reasons for the impeachment. The impeachment prosecution contained suspicion of involvement in the trial, from the then chief civil servant of the Blue House to the court administration and vice-president judge Lim. How did a Japanese reporter’s article on the’Seven Hour Suspicion of the Sewol issue’ led to the unprecedented proposal for impeachment of a judge?
Japan’s Sankei Shimbun’s Tatsuya Kato, then head of the Seoul branch, said, “President Park Geun-hye goes missing on the day of the sinking of the passenger ship… Who did you meet?’ Quoting an official from a stock market, he wrote, “Park met Yoon-hoe Jeong on the day of the Sewol ferry disaster on April 16.”
The prosecution handed over the head of Kato to trial, saying, “It defamed the president’s reputation by pointing out false facts such as that there was inappropriate sex relations with the female president.”
Former Sankei Shimbun Seoul Bureau chief Tatsuya Kato, accused of defaming former President Park Geun-hye, is entering court to receive a continuing trial at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul in 2015. Central photo
According to the impeachment bill initiated by Lee Tan-hee and Democratic Party lawmakers, Deputy Judge Lim Seong-geun received a phone call from the then deputy court administration department chief Lim Jong-heon. “If it is revealed that (the content of the article) is false regarding the past President Park’s seven-hour trip to the Sewol ferry, I hope that the part will be mentioned in court and passed over.” Deputy Judge Lim called the judge Lee Dong-geun, who was in charge of the case, and said, “The part that the female president met another man in his country is a very fatal part and there is a lot of public interest, so it would be better to clarify that part in the trial process.” I conveyed the words to the effect.
The judge, who heard the story from Deputy Judge Lim, said in the court that “Jung Yoon-hoe did not meet the president on the day of the Sewol ferry incident, and it seems that the contents of the rumors written by the Sankei Shimbun were proved to be false.”
Judge Lim receives another phone call from Deputy General Manager Lim Jong-hun. The reason for the ruling was that it should be clarified that the article was false, and that the actions of Bureau Chief Kato were not desirable.
Judge Lim called the judge again and said, “Even if you are convicted of Mr. Kato, do not simply end it. “Although he is innocent, it would be good to make it clear that what he did was undesirable.”
Former Blue House Min Jeong-woo, Woo Byeong-woo, is heading to court to attend a follow-up hearing held at the Seoul High Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul in the afternoon of 2019. yunhap news
At the time, Min Jeong-woo said, “It is necessary to reveal that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has made its utmost efforts for diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan, so please tell us so that the fact that the Minister of Foreign Affairs has submitted a petition can be notified in court.” This was passed on to Deputy Chief Lim Jong-heon, and Deputy Chief Judge Lim delivered it to the judge.
The 30th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Judge Lee Dong-geun) sentenced Kato to the innocence. At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea announced that it had petitioned for an election to Bureau Chief Kato. He also said, “It is only a sentence of innocence inevitably under the law, and it is difficult to say that it is difficult to say that it is appropriate to conduct an article in which Kato mocked the President of the Republic of Korea and further caricatured the Republic of Korea itself, but did not properly grasp the basic facts.” Revealed.
“Specific order for judicial affairs, violation of the constitution”
The lawmakers who initiated the impeachment prosecution are in the position of’involvement in the judge’, where such actions by the vice-president Judge Im cannot be allowed. They argued that “hiding behind the courthouse, intervening in the trial to change the trial to suit the taste of the powerful person, and revising the contents of the judgment, and acting as a broker for a judicial farm.”
Lim Seong-geun “Can’t proceed without investigation”
Deputy Judge Lim said, “It’s just a one-sided argument that doesn’t fit the facts,” he said. “Because the impeachment of a judge is the invocation of the legislative’s power to check against the judiciary, there must be a careful deliberation that fits its institutional weight.” In fact, he said that he would of course respond if the preliminary procedure for the investigation proceeds.
Reporter Lee Ga-young [email protected]