Ex-Supreme Court chief faces arrest
Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae speaks to reporters in front of the Supreme Court in Seocho-dong, Seoul, Jan. 11, before heading to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office to face questioning over his alleged involvement in a judiciary power-abuse scandal. Yonhap
Prosecutors filed for a court warrant Friday to arrest former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae in the investigation into alleged abuse of judicial power by top court officials under his leadership.
They also asked the Seoul court for a second time to issue writs against Park Byong-dae and Ko Young-han, two former top court justices, for their alleged involvement in the scandal. The court turned down the previous requests for their arrests, citing disputable grounds.
Yang, who headed the top court from 2011-2017, stands accused of using or seeking to use trials as political leverage to lobby the office of then President Park Geun-hye to get her approval for the establishment of a separate court of appeals, his pet project.
He underwent a 14-hour prosecution interrogation last Friday, becoming the first former head of South Korea's Supreme Court to have faced questioning as a criminal suspect. He had two more interrogations on Monday and Tuesday.
Yang faces at least 40 counts of charges, including abuse of power and leaking of state secrets.
"It is imperative that former chief justice Yang is held accountable for what he has done, as someone who was in charge and had the final say (in every matter)," a prosecution official told reporters. "We have corroborative evidence showing that he not only was briefed about the serious crimes being committed on his watch, but that he indeed spearheaded the scheme."
The scandal involving top justices and the top court has rattled the country, placing the judiciary under unprecedented scrutiny.
The retired veteran justice is alleged to have instructed his officials at the National Court Administration (NCA), the top court's governing body, to devise ways to interfere in trials whose rulings potentially held high political significance for Park.
He is also accused of having orchestrated a delay in the deliberation of a damages suit filed by Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor, to curry favor with the former president, who was seeking amicable relations with Tokyo.
He allegedly pressured judges in charge of such trials to deliver verdicts in Park's favor and disadvantaged the judges who were opposed to establishing another appeals court.
Yang, 71, has categorically denied the allegations. Appearing for the first prosecution questioning, he defended the court system and officials, calling on the public to watch the probe "without bias or prejudice." (Yonhap)