President Yoon Suk-yeol’s team announced that they have appointed a group of representatives necessary for the impeachment trial and are scheduled to appear at the preliminary hearing on the 27th. The photo shows from the left: Lawyer Bae Bo-yoon, former Chairman of the Korea Communications Commission Kim Hong-il, and Lawyer Yoon Gap-geun (source: Yonhap News).
In the impeachment trial of President Yoon Suk-yeol, the team representing him officially appeared by submitting their appointments to the Constitutional Court on the morning of the 27th. The appointed representatives are Lawyers Bae Bo-yoon (64, Judicial Research and Training Institute class of ’20), Bae Jin-han (64, class of ’20), and Yoon Gap-geun (60, class of ’19).
Lawyer Bae Bo-yoon previously served as the spokesperson for the Constitutional Court during the impeachment trial of President Park Geun-hye. A law graduate from Korea University, he passed the 30th bar exam and worked at the Constitutional Court’s constitutional research office starting in 1994. He held positions such as the chief of staff to the President of the Court, director of planning and coordination, and head of the academic department, marking him as a constitutional law expert. After resigning from the Constitutional Court in 2017, he critiqued the court’s decision to uphold Park’s impeachment in a 2018 interview, claiming that the National Assembly’s impeachment resolution was inadequate and mixed up legal responsibility with mistrust. In April 2019, at the launch of the “Lawyers’ Union for Freedom and Rule of Law,” he apologized to former President Park, reflecting on his role during the impeachment as a spokesperson.
Another representative, Bae Jin-han, a classmate of President Yoon from the 1979 cohort of Seoul National University, began his legal career as a judge at the Seoul Civil District Court in 1991 and later practiced law starting in 1995. Following Yoon’s election victory, Bae stated on a broadcast that Yoon had once prosecuted and sentenced a high-ranking official to life imprisonment in a mock trial during university, underscoring Yoon’s leadership skills.
Yoon Gap-geun, a former chief prosecutor at Daegu High Prosecutors’ Office, has served in roles such as head of the special investigation division at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office and chief of the anti-corruption division at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. He was also the head of the special investigation team for the allegations surrounding Woo Byung-woo, Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs, during the late Park administration. After starting his legal practice in January 2018, he attempted to run as a candidate for the People Power Party in 2022 but was not nominated.
The investigation into President Yoon’s alleged rebellion charges will be led by Kim Hong-il, former chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, who has received Yoon’s trust through multiple key appointments. After stepping down as the chairman, Kim returned to practice at a law firm in October but recently left to focus on Yoon’s defense. Kim is a known figure in the legal community, having led major investigations while serving as the chief of the violent crimes division at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office and as a deputy chief of the Central Investigation Department.