(LEAD) Ex-Supreme Court chief justice sentenced to suspended prison term over power abuse

▲ Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae arrives at the Seoul High Court in the capital on Jan. 30, 2026, to attend his sentencing hearing over charges of power abuse. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

▲ Former Supreme Court Justice Park Byong-dae arrives at the Seoul High Court in the capital on Jan. 30, 2026, to attend his sentencing hearing over charges of power abuse. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

▲ Former Supreme Court Justice Ko Young-han arrives at the Seoul High Court in the capital on Jan. 30, 2026, to attend his sentencing hearing over charges of power abuse. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) court-ex-chief justice

(LEAD) Ex-Supreme Court chief justice sentenced to suspended prison term over power abuse

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SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Yonhap) -- An appellate court on Friday sentenced former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae to six months in prison, suspended for one year, for abusing his power through wrongful interference in trials.

The Seoul High Court handed down the sentence, reversing a lower court ruling that acquitted Yang of all 47 charges mostly related to his alleged abuse of judiciary power.

Yang, who headed the top court from 2011-17, was accused by prosecutors of having used trials as bargaining chips in dealings with the then administration of President Park Geun-hye.

The aim was to promote his bid to establish a court of appeals, according to prosecutors, who demanded a seven-year prison term for the former chief justice.

Park Byong-dae and Ko Young-han, two other former Supreme Court justices, were indicted in the same case and also acquitted by the lower court.

The appellate court on Friday sentenced Park to a six-month prison term, suspended for a year, while upholding Ko's acquittal.

The bench convicted Yang of two of the 47 charges, saying the judiciary under his leadership abused its power by meddling in certain trials, and that Yang and Park were guilty of collusion.

On the remaining charges, the bench upheld the lower court's ruling that either Yang's subordinates did not abuse their power or that even if they had, Yang was not complicit in their wrongdoing.

Yang's lawyers said they would immediately appeal the ruling.

The trials in which Yang is accused of wrongful interference include a compensation case filed by victims of Japan's wartime forced labor and the case of the National Intelligence Service's meddling in a presidential election.

He was also charged with approving anti-constitutional ideas presented by Park and Ko, among others, compiling a so-called blacklist of judges and creating a slush fund.

Yang was indicted under arrest in February 2019 over the scandal and released on bail in July that year following 179 days of detention.

He was the first chief justice ever to have been arrested as a criminal suspect.

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