Today, the president's arrest warrant is reviewed...What is the flow of the impeachment trial?

■ Host: anchor Lee Hyun-woong, anchor Hwang Ji-yeon
■ Telephone connection: Attorney Seo Jeong-bin

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN News Special] when quoting.

[Anchor]
President Yoon's side will announce his attendance at 10 p.m. ahead of the actual examination of the arrest warrant at the Seoul Western District Court at 2 p.m. today.

Let's take a closer look at the urgent emergency martial law investigation and the main contents related to the impeachment trial by connecting experts. Lawyer Seo Jeong-bin, are you out?

[Jeongbin Seo]
How are you?

[Anchor]
It is said that the amount of President Yoon's arrest warrant requested by the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit to the Western District Court is about 150 pages, is this much?

[Jeongbin Seo]
That's right. If you say 150 pages, it's quite a lot compared to other events. So, even if you look at this amount, you can expect it to contain enough content to understand the overall crime. In addition, it is known that President Yoon is actually a convicted criminal, or that if he is released, he could take measures such as declaring martial law again or harm those involved.

[Anchor]
Following the arrest warrant, an arrest warrant was also filed with the Western District Court. What do you think about the fact that the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit filed an arrest warrant with the Western District Court despite the opposition from President Yoon?

[Jeongbin Seo]
First of all, two days ago, President Yoon asked the Central District Court for an arrest suit, arguing that the Western District Court did not have the authority to issue an arrest warrant. However, the Central District Court also rejected this argument. Therefore, I think the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit decided that it was not necessary to request an arrest warrant from the Central District Court, not the Western District Court. In addition, if an arrest warrant is requested to the Central District Court this time, it may be refuted by President Yoon that the existing arrest warrant request was unfair, so I think he would have considered this point.

[Anchor]
The substantive examination will be held at 2 p.m. today, so what procedures and format will it be?

[Jeongbin Seo]
When the hearing begins, prosecutors from the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit and President Yoon will first express their opinions on the issuance of arrest warrants. And the judge asks both sides questions and listens to answers if necessary. After that, when the two sides' final statements of opinion are completed, the hearing will end, and the judge will consider whether to issue an arrest warrant and then make a decision. For now, the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit is expected to argue that President Yoon's allegations have been proven by statements or other evidence from those involved and that there is a risk of destroying evidence or fleeing, and that extreme measures could be repeated again if released. On the other hand, President Yoon is expected to point out the investigation rights of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit or the jurisdiction of the Western District Court, as he has previously argued, and he is also expected to argue that there is no fear of destroying evidence because considerable evidence has already been secured or that he will stay in his official residence.

[Anchor]
It is said that President Yoon will finally announce his attendance at 10 p.m. in a little while. But it doesn't seem very likely to attend. Should I see it as an extension of the exercise of the right to remain silent in the investigation by the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit? If the suspect is absent, wouldn't it be disadvantageous for him?

[Jeongbin Seo]
First of all, the exercise of the right to silence in the investigation of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit could be read as meaning that the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit's right to investigate could not be recognized. I think this warrant also means that if you are absent, you will not be able to recognize the jurisdiction of the Western District Court. In normal cases, if the suspect does not attend the warrant review, it can have an adverse effect because he or she gives up his or her right to defend himself, but in this case, President Yoon's absence is not expected to affect the results particularly because he has already made various claims and his agents are expected to repeat their claims strongly in this process.

[Anchor]
Yoon sent a prison letter to his supporters. How can we see the intention of expressing our intention in a letter like this when we are not responding to the trial process?

[Jeongbin Seo]
Considering the specificity of the issue, President Yoon seems to judge that the influence of public opinion is quite important in both criminal and impeachment cases. Therefore, even if you do not attend criminal proceedings in person, I think you are willing to form favorable public opinion through the gathering of supporters and utilize it a little.

[Anchor]
In the midst of this, a threat to kill a judge who rejected an arrest suit was posted on the Internet. The police immediately launched an investigation into this. What kind of punishment does this threat to judges receive?

[Jeongbin Seo]
As you said, when the Central District Court rejected President Yoon's request for an arrest suit, a threat to kill the judge in charge was posted on the community, and the police quickly launched an investigation. This content is legally a crime of intimidation, and threats to commit terrorism with dissatisfaction with the judge's ruling can eventually be interpreted as a serious threat to judicial order, so it is more likely to be punished more severely than other issues.

[Anchor]
It will start in the afternoon, and there is a lot of attention on what the judge will decide. Judge's criteria, what do you see as the most important?

[Jeongbin Seo]
In general, whether or not an arrest warrant is issued is an important criterion for whether there is a fear of escape or destruction of evidence. In my personal opinion, the more important criterion will be the degree to which the charge of rebellion has been proven in this case. Since the crime of rebellion is one of the most serious crimes under the current law, if the charges appear to be substantially proven, a warrant can be issued by judging that there is a fear of escape or destruction of evidence on its own, while if the charges are not sufficiently proven, President Yoon's defense rights can be judged to be important and the warrant can be rejected.

[Anchor]
The judge in charge of reviewing the arrest warrant is known as Judge Cha Eun-kyung, and I wonder what kind of ruling Cha Eun-kyung has made in the hospital.

[Jeongbin Seo]
To borrow from the media, Judge Cha Eun-kyung is being evaluated as a competent and silent judge. He is a veteran judge who completed the Judicial Research and Training Institute in 2001 and has been a judge since 2006 after working at a large law firm. A well-known case is that he participated in dismissing Jeong Jin-sang's arrest suit in the case of Jeong Jin-sang, a close aide of Lee Jae-myung, in 2022, and in the same year, Jang Yong-joon, the son of former lawmaker Jang Je-won of the People's Power, was sentenced to one year in prison, as in the first trial.

[Anchor]
When the warrant review is over this afternoon, the judge in charge will finally decide, so when do you think the results will come out?

[Jeongbin Seo]
Usually, the results of the substantive examination are decided around the evening of the day, but in this case, the charges themselves seem to be serious and the amount of warrant claims and evidence records seems to be quite large. So I think it will be decided as early as tomorrow morning. [Anchor] With the issuance and dismissal of the warrant, President Yoon is at the crossroads of fate. In each case, how will the emergency martial law investigation unfold in the future?

[Jeongbin Seo]
First of all, if a warrant is issued, the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit is expected to accelerate the remaining investigations until the case is handed over to the prosecution. Since President Yoon is expected to refuse to attend or make statements, we cannot expect a suspect's interrogation, but we will focus on collecting additional evidence and supplementing it before handing the case over to the prosecution. If the warrant request is rejected, considerable disruption to the investigation by the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit is expected. It may vary depending on the reason for the dismissal, but in some cases, it may be considered insufficient to prove the allegations, and President Yoon's argument may be reinvigorated, which could lead to significant delays in the investigation.

[Anchor]
If a warrant is issued, what role will the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit and the prosecution with the right to prosecute each play?

[Jeongbin Seo]
Among the 20 days of the longest arrest, it is expected to be divided into 10 days each according to the consultation between the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit and the prosecution. If so, the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit will collect additional evidence for 10 days and secure the evidence as much as possible. The prosecution, which later took over the case, is expected to conduct additional investigations and prosecute the law and facts of the rebellion based on the case records of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit.

[Anchor]
Is there a possibility that it will change without dividing it by 10 days as you said because President Yoon does not recognize the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit?

[Jeongbin Seo]
To the end, these are discussed matters, and if the contents of the consultation change, for example, it is possible for the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit to shorten the investigation period and use the remaining days for the prosecution.

[Anchor]
So will President Yoon be tried completely separately from the trials of Kim Yong-hyun, the former defense minister, and other suspected accomplices in the civil war?

[Jeongbin Seo]
There are trials that have already been prosecuted and are underway, such as former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and National Police Agency Commissioner Jo Ji-ho. That's why it is expected to proceed separately from other accomplices. Unless there are special circumstances, it seems that they will be prosecuted later and will be tried separately. However, the Central District Court is also considering distributing civil war-related cases to one court so that the trials can proceed comprehensively and efficiently. In that case, even if the case itself proceeds separately, there is a possibility that the same court will try all related cases.

[Anchor]
In the process of the emergency martial law investigation or impeachment trial, the most notable part is the martial law decree, but who wrote the section under the leadership of it? In this regard, there was also a battle of responsibility between President Yoon and former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, so please summarize it in detail.

[Seo Jung-bin]
In the second response to the Constitutional Court, President Yoon's declaration that the National Assembly and political parties are prohibited from being engaged in the activities of the National Assembly and political parties was mistakenly written while copying the old declaration. Therefore, he insisted that it was different from President Yoon's original intention. However, former Minister Kim's legal representative said, "The decree No. 1 is justifiable and there was no mistake in drafting the draft. And President Yoon claimed that he even reviewed it, so it looked as if the two sides were engaged in a battle of responsibility.

[Anchor]
There are talks about the investigative power of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit. Yesterday, there was also a question raised by an incumbent judge at the Supreme Court regarding the investigation rights of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit. The Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit has raised the question of whether it has the right to investigate rebellion and whether it can conduct a forced investigation for abuse of authority, what do you think?

[Seo Jung-bin]
As it is an issue that has been controversial so far, there may be various opinions, and even if it is a court, there may be disagreements among members. If you look at the article, I think there is a point where you can understand it even if you have a different position regardless of pros and cons or political tendencies. As there are disagreements within the court about the investigation rights of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit, it can be expected that the issue of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit's investigation rights will continue to be fierce in court and that the court will judge it very carefully.

[Anchor]
I'm constantly interested in getting a warrant, but if it's issued, will the president of Yoon Suk Yeol move somewhere else?

[Jeongbin Seo]
That's right. Now, President Yoon is staying in a waiting room for a suspect, and if a warrant is issued, he is expected to be transferred to a solitary cell in another place when referring to past cases. Although there may be differences in size, it is expected that they will be moved to solitary confinement to prevent encounters with other inmates anyway.

[Anchor]
What happens if it's rejected?

[Jeongbin Seo]
If rejected, President Yoon will be able to get out of the detention center immediately.

[Anchor]
What happens to the existing investigation by the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit and the prosecution if a special prosecutor is launched, and some have already been indicted and are being tried, what happens to this?

[Jeongbin Seo]
If the independent counsel law is passed and the independent counsel is formed quickly afterwards, all ongoing cases of civil war will be carried out by the independent counsel. Therefore, when the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit and the prosecution hand over the case to the special prosecutor and deliver the related records, the special prosecutor will proceed with the remaining investigation based on this and will later be in charge of not only prosecution but also trial.

[Anchor]
As you mentioned by the special prosecutor, the plenary session of the National Assembly was passed by the opposition party yesterday, and is there any difference from the existing proposal? Which part is it?

[Jeongbin Seo]
The number of cases has decreased considerably compared to the previous one. Eleven investigation targets have been drastically reduced to six. The reduced content can be seen as a result of the government's exclusion of foreign exchange charges or incitement of civil war from the investigation, which partially reflects the ruling party's demands.

[Anchor]
The ruling party is protesting, saying it will propose the exercise of the veto. There is a huge difference between the ruling party and the opposition party on the contents of the special prosecution law. Please summarize what each of them is making.

[Jeongbin Seo]
The biggest difference in position is whether it is possible to investigate related cognitive cases. The opposition party argues that the effectiveness of the independent counsel is guaranteed only when it can investigate other cases related to the rebellion, while the ruling party argues that there is a problem of indefinitely expanding the scope of the special prosecution's investigation. Since the arguments are sharply opposed from both sides, I think it is difficult to discuss the provisions.

[Anchor]
In the case of the cognitive case you actually mentioned, is there a possibility that it will increase indefinitely?

[Jeongbin Seo]
Of course, not all related cases, but if unexpected and unexpected cases are revealed in the course of the investigation, the problem of having the right to investigate much more cases than expected can arise as an investigation becomes possible.

[Anchor]
Finally, let's talk about the impeachment trial. The hearing was held twice. What contents were mainly covered in the hearing date?

[Jeongbin Seo]
First of all, the first hearing date ended in four minutes without hearing according to the relevant regulations because President Yoon Suk Yeol was not present. And at the second hearing on Thursday, the National Assembly first stated the summary of the prosecution. Therefore, these issues, such as the declaration of emergency martial law, the invasion of the National Assembly's blockade, and the declaration of an proclamation, were explained as reasons for prosecution. On the other hand, suspicions of fraudulent elections are considerable on the part of President Yoon. And President Yoon made the case that he declared martial law to clarify these suspicions and prevent anti-national acts because he judged the situation as an emergency. In addition to this, the court also adopted Kwak Jong-geun, Yeo In-hyeong, Commander Lee Jin-woo, Commissioner Jo Ji-ho, Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service Hong Sang-won, and former Minister Kim Yong-hyun as future witnesses.

[Anchor]
That's all for today. I was with lawyer Seo Jeong-bin. Thank you.