South Korea: Ex-President Yoon, wife to appear in court on same day for 1st time

Seoul, Nov 7 (IANS) Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, were set to appear in court Friday in their separate trials, the first time both have appeared on the same day since their arrests.

Yoon is scheduled to attend one of his trials related to his failed martial law imposition in December over his alleged attempt to obstruct his detention by investigators in January and involvement in deleting secure phone records from servers.

Kim, the former first lady, is standing trial for corruption and other charges, including her alleged involvement in a stock manipulation scheme and the meddling of candidate nominations for elections.

Yoon had not attended his two martial law trials since being placed under arrest a second time in July but recently resumed his court appearances as key witnesses began to testify.

Kim has been present at every trial session since the court proceedings began in September. She has been held in custody since August 12.

Both trials on Friday were set to begin at around 10:15 a.m., but the couple was not expected to overlap as correctional authorities had arranged to prevent any encounter between the two, Yonhap news agency reported.

Yoon and Kim have been held at separate detention centres.

Earlier on November 4, a special counsel team had said it had summoned former President Yoon Suk Yeol to appear for questioning over his alleged interference in a military probe into the 2023 death of a young Marine.

Special counsel Lee Myeong-hyeon's team had sent the notice to Yoon ordering him to appear for questioning at 10 am on Saturday, assistant special counsel Choung Min-young said during a press briefing.

Investigators suspect he had ordered the presidential office and the defence ministry to reverse the initial findings of a military probe into the death of Cpl. Chae Su-geun in order to relieve a then Marine commander of responsibility.

The former president is also suspected of helping former Defence Minister Lee Jong-sup evade responsibility by appointing him ambassador to Australia in March 2024.

The special counsel team had previously demanded his appearance on October 23, but the former president did not comply, citing the trial schedules of his lawyers.

"I understand that his lawyers are not of the position that he will not appear at all," Choung had said of the likelihood of Yoon's appearance.

"We expect him to appear on the eighth."

The late Marine died in July 2023 after being swept away in a swollen stream during a search mission for victims of heavy rains, without wearing proper safety equipment, such as a life vest.

--IANS

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