Former Supreme Court chief justice's arrest draws shock, relief
Yang boards a car in front of Seoul Central District Court after a court hearing on his arrest warrant, Wednesday, to be transferred to Seoul Detention Center. Korea Times photo by Seo Jae-hoon
Yang to be held in same detention center as Park Geun-hye
By Lee Suh-yoon
The arrest of ex-Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae ― named as the principal agent of the Park Geun-hye administration's political meddling in court cases ― generated both shock and relief Thursday.
Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su, Yang's successor, called the arrest “a tragic and shameful event,” reflecting the numbing blow it dealt to the overall legitimacy of the judiciary body.
The response from lawmakers across the political spectrum was divided, with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) calling the arrest “an obvious conclusion” and “a chance to regain the public's fallen trust in the judiciary.” The main conservative opposition Liberal Korea Party (LKP), however, called the arrest another form of political revenge against conservative administrations of the past. Cheong Wa Dae declined to comment on the matter.
Civic groups welcomed the court's decision.
“This is not the end but the beginning of the elimination of corruption in the judiciary system,” a coalition of civic groups in Gwangju said in front of Gwangju District Court, Thursday.
The arrest capped a seven-month-long investigation into allegations that the National Court Administration (NCA), under Yang's command, rigged several high-profile court trials to curry favor with the Park Geun-hye administration and lobby for the establishment of a de facto Second Supreme Court. The prosecution questioned around 100 current and former judiciary officials in the months leading up to Yang's arrest.
Yang, 71, now faces a court trial on 40 separate criminal charges from his time as chief justice between 2011 and 2017 ― the most serious being that he delayed rulings on damage suits filed by Korean wartime forced laborers against Japanese firms for years. His right-hand man, former NCA deputy head Lim Jong-hun, was arrested last November for pushing Cheong Wa Dae's stance on such trials to presiding judges in written statements and phone calls.
Yang is also accused of “blacklisting” judges with differing political views, leaking confidential information and creating a slush fund for NCA operations. He has denied all allegations so far, claiming the testimony and documents detailing his abuse of power were “fake” or “manipulated.”
The Seoul Central District Court issued the arrest warrant for Yang around 2 a.m., saying the power abuse and case-rigging charges brought against Yang were found to be “mostly true” ― requiring the accused's confinement to prevent any destruction of evidence.
Yang, who had been awaiting the decision at Seoul Detention Center, southern Gyeonggi Province, after his court appearance Wednesday, was immediately assigned to a solitary cell. His alleged partner-in-crime, the impeached President Park Geun-hye, is also under custody here, undergoing multiple trials for corrupt dealings with business conglomerates and other charges.
Starting today, prosecutors will summon Yang for further questioning, building up their case from key evidence such as Yang's meeting with lawyers from the law firm Kim & Chang that represented the Japanese companies in the forced labor suits, and duty logs kept by his subordinates.
Prosecutors will use the collected evidence to formally indict Yang next month. Some of the new findings may also be used to bring extra charges against others suspected of playing a hand in delaying the verdicts in the forced labor cases ― namely, Park, ex-chief presidential secretary Kim Ki-chun and ex-Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se.
The prosecution's probe into the scandal started last June, after the release of internal NCA documents that detailed the top court's plans to influence high-profile rulings in line with Cheong Wa Dae's interests. Prosecutors believe Yang helped delay the verdict on forced laborers' cases to toe the line with the Park administration's soft diplomatic stance toward Japan.