A Seoul court said Tuesday it will allow the sentencing trial of former President Park Geun-hye, slated for later this week, to be televised live.
The Seoul Central District Court said the decision was made by the three judges in charge of her corruption trial.
Park is set to face a verdict by the lowest court in the sentencing hearing slated for 2:10 p.m. on Friday. She has been charged for bribery, abuse of power and a string of other corruptions related to a massive influence-peddling case that removed her from office last year. Prosecutors have demanded a 30-year jail term for Park.
Former President Park Geun-hye (Yonhap)
The decision is the first of its kind since the Supreme Court amended rules last year to allow a live broadcast of a trial if it is deemed necessary and of public interest.
"The judge panel decided to allow the live broadcast after taking into account various factors, including matters of public interest," a court official said.
The court will send the footage via its own tools, though, to keep order in the courtroom and avoid excessive media coverage, it added.
The court decision comes despite the request from Park to disapprove of the live broadcast of her trial. On Monday, Park submitted a hand-written letter to the court objecting to the live coverage. The court is said to have overruled her request given the public attention to the trial.
But it's unlikely she will attend the sentencing trial Friday. Park has been refusing to appear in court sessions since October last year in protest of the court's extension of her arrest warrant.
The court had denied the live broadcast of trials of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and Park's longtime friend, Choi Soon-sil, all of whom are implicated in Park's corruption scandal, citing the defendants' rights. (Yonhap)
