On October 23, after Park Geun-hye’s seven-member legal team resigned collectively on the 16th, the court repeatedly tried to persuade her but failed. On October 19, Park Geun-hye refused to attend the first hearing after her lawyer resigned, citing health reasons, which triggered more speculation. Although the court recruited candidates for Park Geun-hye's legal team from among 30 full-time public defenders, as of the 22nd, only one lawyer had signed up voluntarily. Lawyers said the reluctance to sign up was due to concerns about political crackdowns and attacks from both supporters and opponents of Park Geun-hye.
According to reports on the 23rd, on the 20th, the Seoul Central District Court recruited candidates willing to defend Park Geun-hye for 30 full-time public defenders affiliated with the agency.
At that time, in order to avoid the embarrassing situation of no one applying, the court specially offered preferential conditions: providing an independent office and a number of convenient facilities including a copy machine. In addition, the 20 to 30-plus cases he would otherwise handle each month can be shared with other attorneys.
Nonetheless, as of the afternoon of the 22nd, only one lawyer had filed an application. A lawyer revealed: "At first, three or four lawyers considered it, but later gave up the idea." "This case is too onerous and there may be political backlash."
Another lawyer said: "Personal information will be exposed and will be attacked from both sides by the Taegeukgi forces (supporters of Park Geun-hye) and candlelight forces (opponents of Park Geun-hye)." "Park Geun-hye. It is very possible to refuse to meet and appear in court. In short, it is easy to be attacked on both sides. "
The court believes that the file on Park Geun-hye's "Crony Interference" case has more than 120,000 pages, and the indictment alone has 154 pages. It is impossible to conduct a trial with one lawyer, at least four or five lawyers are needed. The court plans to finalize the appointment of lawyers by next week at the latest.
The court stated that if full-time public defenders are not enough to form Park Geun-hye’s legal team, it will consider choosing from ordinary public defenders, the report said. Currently, there are 30 full-time public defenders and 408 public defenders within the jurisdiction of the Seoul Central District Court.
According to earlier reports, South Korea's Central District Court decided to extend Park Geun-hye's detention period on the 13th of this month on the grounds that Park Geun-hye had "the possibility of destroying evidence." Park Geun-hye's detention period will be extended by up to six months, which means she will not be released until April next year. This triggered Park Geun-hye's strong dissatisfaction. On the 16th, Park Geun-hye made a rare statement during the trial. She has denied the charges and called the trial "political revenge" against her. On the same day, seven of Park Geun-hye’s defense lawyers collectively resigned. Lawyer Yoo Young-ha accused the court's decision to postpone Park Geun-hye's arrest as "unreasonable" and said "this will become the most shameful black history in South Korea's judicial history." Park Geun-hye said: "There is no point in trusting the judge. From now on, we should judge according to the judge's wishes."
On the 19th, Park Geun-hye once again refused to attend the first hearing after the resignation of the lawyer team, citing health reasons. On the afternoon of the 20th, South Korea's largest opposition party, the Liberty Korea Party, held a meeting and made a party disciplinary decision requiring Park Geun-hye to withdraw from the party on the grounds of "harming the party and losing public support." South Korean media said that this was the first time in South Korean history that a political party asked a former president to quit the party.
This is normal, everyone is worried about their safety.