Seoul: The retrial of former spy chief Kim Jae-gyu, who was sentenced to death for assassinating former President Park Chung-hee in 1979 and executed the following year, will begin next month, judicial officials said Wednesday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Seoul High Court, which approved the retrial of Kim in February this year, plans to hold the first hearing of the case at 11 a.m. on July 16. This development follows a request made about five years ago by a family member of Kim, who sought to clear the insurrection charge leveled against him.
Kim, who was the head of the now-defunct Korean Central Intelligence Agency, assassinated President Park and Cha Ji-cheol, the head of the Presidential Security Service, during a private dinner on October 26, 1979. Kim was subsequently sentenced to death and executed in May 1980.
The court, in its February decision, found grounds for a retrial after determining that investigators had tortured and assaulted Kim during the investigation. The prosecution appealed the court's decision, but the Supreme Court dismissed the prosecution's request on May 13.