Prosecutors Believe Judge is Showing Bias at Trial for Former Justice Minister’s Wife

It appears the fix may be in to get Cho Kuk’s wife as little punishment as possible for her crimes:

Prosecutors are challenging the impartiality of a judge presiding over the trial of Chung Kyung-sim, the wife of scandal-plagued former Justice Minister Cho Kuk. 

The JoongAng Ilbo learned Friday that the Seoul Central District Court has failed to accurately record prosecutors’ arguments made during a session of Chung’s trial on Dec. 10. At the time, prosecutors complained to Judge Song In-gwon for 10 minutes after he rejected their request to revise indictments against Chung. The court’s official record of the session, however, said, “The prosecution said it has no special opinion.” 

Prosecutors from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office asked Judge Song to change some specifics in their indictment of Chung. The prosecutors said they had been in a hurry to file the indictment against Chung. 

Chung, a professor at Dongyang University, was first indicted on Sept. 6 for allegedly creating a Dongyang University presidential award for her daughter – without the knowledge of the president of the university – and secretly placing the president’s seal on the award.

Prosecutors normally indict a suspect after they’ve been questioned, but Chung was indicted that night without any questioning because the statute of limitations for her charge was about to expire the very next day, Sept. 7.

In the following weeks, prosecutors managed to detain Chung and question her multiple times, which led to their determination last month to indict her on 14 more charges, including obstruction of business, fraud, embezzlement and instigation of tampering, hiding and destroying evidence.

After the follow-up questioning, the prosecution attempted to revise their Sept. 6 indictment of Chung for forgery. They wanted to change the date, location and method of the alleged forgery, but the court refused the request. “If the prosecution was to change just one aspect, I would allow it,” Judge Song said on Dec. 10. “But they are trying to change five key factors.” 

Prosecutors strongly protested the decision. “The court’s decision is unfair,” a prosecutor said. “We will review the rejection closely and ask again.”

As the prosecution continued its protest, Judge Song raised his voice in anger. “If you continue, I can remove you from the courtroom,” he said. “My judgment may be wrong. You can appeal after the sentencing.” 

The court, however, recorded in the official minutes of the session that the prosecution presented “no special opinion” on the matter.

“This is a serious issue,” a prosecutor-turned-lawyer told the JoongAng Ilbo on Friday. “Civic groups could file a petition to accuse the court of tampering with an official document [the minutes].”

Joong Ang Ilbo

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