Overview
- Judges stopped what was to be the first appellate hearing on Thursday after Yoon Suk Yeol’s lawyers moved to recuse all three on the panel.
- Under Korean procedure, hearings pause until a recusal request is decided, and the bench said it split off Yoon’s case and will set a new date.
- Yoon’s team says the judges showed bias because they recently handled former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo’s appeal, which ended last week with a 15-year sentence for aiding the insurrection.
- A lower court gave Yoon life in prison for the December 2024 martial law attempt that sent troops to block the National Assembly, and both he and the special counsel appealed, with prosecutors seeking the death penalty.
- The consolidated appeal also covers seven other officials, including former defense minister Kim Yong-Hyun, and Yoon remains jailed as he faces eight criminal cases that include corruption allegations tied to his wife and a Marine’s 2023 death.