Court image. Kyunghyang Shinmun file photo

Judge Shin Jong-o of the Seoul High Court, who had served as the presiding judge in the appellate trial of the Deutsche Motors stock-manipulation case involving First Lady Kim Keon-hee, was found dead on the 6th.

According to the Seocho Police Station, Judge Shin was found by police around 1 a.m. on the grounds of the Seoul Court Complex in Seocho-dong in a state of cardiac arrest. He was transported to a nearby hospital but died. The police received a report around midnight from his family that “We cannot reach him,” and found him while searching the grounds to determine his location.

It has been reported that he left a note. The note reportedly did not contain any content related to cases he handled or other work matters. A police official stated that they would continue to investigate the specific circumstances of the death and added that no criminal suspicion has been confirmed so far.

A heavy pall hung over the mourning hall set up at a general hospital in Seoul that day. After the news of his death became known, fellow judges and court staff came to pay their respects from the morning. Some visitors shed tears after paying their respects. Chief Justice Cho Hee-dae and others sent condolence wreaths and condolence flags to the funeral hall.

As the presiding judge for the appeals in the stock-manipulation case involving Kim, Judge Shin on the 28th of last month sentenced her to four years in prison and a fine of 50,000,000 KRW. This was heavier than the sentence imposed by the first-instance court, which had recognized only part of the charge of brokered bribery against Kim and had sentenced her to one year and eight months.

Judge Shin graduated from Sangmun High School in Seoul and the Seoul National University School of Law, passed the bar exam, and completed the Judicial Research and Training Institute as the 27th class. He was appointed a judge in 2001 at the Uijeongbu branch of the Seoul District Court and later served at the Ulsan District Court, the Seoul Western District Court, as a research judge at the Supreme Court, the Daegu High Court, and the Cheongju panel of the Daejeon High Court. Among his classmates at the training institute were Han Dong-hoon, former leader of the People Power Party, and Lee Won-seok, former Prosecutor General. The father of Judge Shin is Shin Hyeon-mu, former chief prosecutor of the Daejeon District Prosecutors Office.

From his time at the training institute, he was described among his peers as “dignified and calm”. Inside and outside the court, he was known as a thorough principlist. In 2023, he was selected as an outstanding judge by the Seoul Bar Association.

Criminal Division 15 of the Seoul High Court, to which Judge Shin belonged, is a newly established bench that emerged recently when Criminal Divisions 1·12 were converted into an insurrection-dedicated bench. As it was assigned ordinary cases previously handled by the insurrection bench, its workload is reported to have increased. This bench has heard cases including the ‘forcible repatriation of North Korean fishermen’ case involving Jeong Ui-yong, former Director of the Office of National Security, and Seo Hoon, former Director of the National Intelligence Service, as well as a case involving bribery allegations against Yoon Woo-jin, former head of the Yongsan Tax Office.