Seoul: Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun engaged in a back-and-forth with the Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday by repeatedly seeking the recusals of judges overseeing his martial law case in response to the court's dismissals of the requests.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the exchanges took place during a hearing held to determine whether to issue a new warrant to arrest Kim over his role in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law bid. Special counsel Cho Eun-suk sought the warrant earlier this week after indicting Kim on new charges of obstructing official duties and abetting the destruction of evidence.
Kim is already under arrest and standing trial on charges of insurrection related to the martial law attempt, but is set for release Thursday upon the expiry of a six-month detention period. His lawyers had filed for the judges' recusal in an apparent bid to prevent another arrest, but the court dismissed the request Tuesday after deeming it a ploy to delay proceedings.
"If this is the decision of the bench, then we will again request recusal," one lawyer said during Wednesday's hearing. "The unjust dismissal decision goes against justice as stipulated in the Criminal Procedure Code," the lawyer added, noting that in order to dismiss the recusal request, "its aim has to be delaying proceedings, but the proceedings in this case have not yet started."
As the bench proceeded with the hearing, rejecting the recusal requests every time, the lawyers protested by calling it "illegal."