Court Begins Review of Arrest Warrant for Former Prosecutor General Shim Woojung over Insurrection Involvement and Appeal Waiver

Shim: "I will provide a detailed explanation of the situation during the martial law period"

The court has begun reviewing whether to issue an arrest warrant for Shim Woo-jung, former Prosecutor General.

SIm Woojung, former Prosecutor General. Photo by Yonhap News

On July 16, Judge Boo Dong-sik, who is in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, held a pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant review hearing) from the morning to determine the necessity of detaining Shim. Shim is suspected of abusing his authority in connection with involvement in the December 3 Martial Law Incident and his alleged decision to forgo an immediate appeal.

Shim appeared at the court at around 9:15 a.m. that day and said, "I will provide a detailed explanation of the situation during the martial law period and what followed," before heading into the courtroom.

Previously, the Second Integrated Special Prosecutor’s Team, led by Kwon Chang-young, requested an arrest warrant for Shim on July 14 on charges of performing critical duties related to insurrection and abuse of power interfering with the exercise of rights. Shim is accused of considering dispatching prosecutors to the Joint Martial Law Investigation Headquarters on December 3, 2024, the day martial law was declared, under the direction of former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae.

There are also allegations that he was involved in discussing ways to respond to crimes transferred to the jurisdiction of military courts immediately following the declaration of martial law and in drafting a document titled "Jurisdiction Over Trials Under Martial Law." During a search and seizure of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, investigators obtained this very document. It is also reported that they secured statements from Supreme Prosecutors’ Office officials who said, "We discussed how to respond if martial law actually took effect and certain crimes came under military court jurisdiction."

The arrest warrant also includes allegations of abuse of authority related to the decision not to immediately appeal after the cancellation of the arrest of former President Yoon Suk-yeol. Yoon, who was indicted on charges including being the leader of an insurrection, filed for cancellation of his detention last March, arguing that prosecutors had indicted him after his detention period expired. The court upheld his request.

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