Anchor: Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae appeared for a court hearing on Wednesday, which will decide whether he should be arrested over massive power abuse allegations. If arrested, Yang will become the first former head of South Korea's Supreme Court to be placed under pre-sentencing detention.
Choi You Sun has this report.

Report:

[Nat sound: Fmr. Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae entering Seoul Central District Court (Jan. 23)]

The former Supreme Court chief was tight-lipped as he passed through a swarm of reporters and camera crew in front of the Seoul Central District Court just before 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Prosecutors are demanding Yang's arrest, highlighting that all the charges made against him, totaling at least 40, are serious crimes that threaten constitutional order.

They are expected to raise concerns that Yang could attempt to destroy evidence.

Yang stands accused of ordering the National Court Administration(NCA) under the top court to seek ways to interfere in trials deemed politically sensitive to the previous Park Geun-hye administration to win favor for his plan to establish a new court of appeals.

One of the trials involved Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labor and Yang allegedly orchestrated delays to the damages suit deliberation to curry favor with the former president who was seeking amicable relations with Tokyo.

Yang is also suspected of pressuring judges in charge of such trials to deliver verdicts in Park's favor and of drawing up a blacklist of judges critical of his appellate court project.

Yang, who denies all the allegations, will likely argue that he has been cooperative with the investigation and that he, as a former Supreme Court chief, wouldn't flee.

The court is also reviewing the prosecution's request for a warrant to arrest former justice and Yang's key aide Park Byong-dae on Wednesday.

Prosecutors have included fresh allegations that Park attempted to influence a tax evasion trial involving his acquaintance and recommending former NCA deputy Lim Jong-hun for a job at his acquaintance's firm.

While the court's decision is expected late Wednesday or early Thursday, Yang's critics gathered in front of the court to call for his arrest to restore public faith in the judiciary, while his supporters denounced the prosecution's probe as unfair.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.