Corruption Investigation Office summons Chief Judge Ji Gwi-yeon for ‘room salon entertainment suspicions’

Ji Gwi-yeon, chief judge of the Seoul Northern District Court, who served as the presiding judge in the first trial of former President Yoon Seok-yeol’s charge of being the leader of the rebellion, appeared and was investigated by the High-ranking Public Officials Crime Investigation Office (Corruption Investigation Office) on the so-called ‘room salon entertainment suspicions’.

According to the legal community on the 11th, the Corruption Investigation Office summoned Chief Prosecutor Ji on the 7th and investigated him as a suspect of bribery and violation of the Anti-Corruption Act.

It has been about six months since the compulsory investigation began at the end of November last year.

Previously, the Democratic Party of Korea claimed that in May of last year, Chief Judge Ji was entertained at a room salon with female employees, and released a photo of Chief Judge Ji sitting side by side with two fellow guests at a place presumed to be a bar in Gangnam, Seoul.

Afterwards, when civic groups such as the Candlelight Movement successively reported Chief Judge Ji to the Corruption Investigation Office on charges of bribery and violation of the Anti-Graft Act, the Corruption Investigation Office assigned the case to the 3rd investigation department (Chief Prosecutor Lee Dae-hwan).

In November last year, a search and seizure warrant was issued and executed by the court for Chief Judge Ji’s taxi app usage records.

Previously, the Supreme Court Ethics Audit Office announced in September last year “현재까지 확인된 사실관계만으로는 직무 관련성을 인정하기 어렵다”presented the results of deliberation by the court’s audit committee.

Chief Judge Ji has been working in the Civil Division 6 of the Seoul Northern District Court since February of this year after sentencing former President Yoon to life imprisonment in the first trial on charges of being the leader of a rebellion.