CIO questions Yoon trial judge over hostess bar entertainment allegations

The judge who presided over former President Yoon Suk Yeol's first criminal trial on insurrection charges was recently questioned by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) over allegations that he received entertainment at a hostess bar, according to legal sources on Monday.

The sources told the JoongAng Ilbo that the CIO summoned Judge Ji Gwi-yeon on May 7 as a suspect on allegations of bribery and violations of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, nearly six months after launching an investigation into the case.

The allegations first surfaced in May last year, when the ruling Democratic Party (DP) claimed that Ji had received improper entertainment at an upscale hostess bar where female attendants entertain male customers.

The DP raised the allegations two months after Ji granted Yoon’s request to be released from detention on the grounds that prosecutors had filed his indictment after his legal detention period had expired.

To support its claim, the party released a photograph purportedly showing Ji seated alongside two companions at what it said was a venue in Seoul’s Gangnam District.

Civic groups subsequently filed complaints with the CIO, accusing Ji of bribery and of violating the anti-graft law.

In November last year, CIO investigators obtained court approval to seize records from Ji’s taxi-hailing app as part of the probe.

Although Ji ordered Yoon’s release from detention, he later presided over the former president’s first criminal trial on charges of leading an insurrection by briefly imposing emergency martial law on Dec. 3, 2024. Ji sentenced Yoon to life imprisonment in February.

Some liberal critics of the government have described the sentence as too lenient, noting that life imprisonment is the minimum sentence for a conviction on insurrection charges.

Ji has been assigned to a civil case division at the Seoul Northern District Court since February.

The Supreme Court’s Office of Ethics Inspection concluded in September last year that it could not establish a connection between Ji’s official duties and the alleged entertainment “based on the facts confirmed thus far.”

Ji has denied wrongdoing.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

BY HAN YE-SEUL [[email protected]]