Overview

• The court held its first retrial hearing on July 16 to review Kim’s 1980 execution for assassinating President Park Chung-hee and security chief Cha Ji-cheol.
• Judges granted the family’s 2020 petition after finding evidence that Kim was tortured and assaulted during his initial military trial.
• Defense attorneys argued that Kim acted to overthrow an authoritarian regime and restore liberal democracy rather than to commit insurrection.
• Kim’s sister, Jeong-suk, urged the judiciary to correct a historical injustice and credited her brother with preventing over a million deaths under Park’s rule.
• The next session on September 5 will delve deeper into interrogation records and competing interpretations of Kim’s motive.