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Former president Park Geun-hye is led into the courtroom at the Seoul Central District Court to appear at the first hearing in her trial on May 23

Park Geun-hye’s next legal step is coming into focus as the former president, who has refused to attend her trial for over five months, nears the Apr. 13 deadline to appeal the first court’s ruling against her. Prosecutors are expected to appeal the decision, in which Park was convicted on most charges but acquitted on key ones related to third party bribery involving Samsung in the grounds that there were “no improper requests made.”

The biggest focus of attention is whether Park, who has insisted she “cannot trust the judiciary,” will change her stance and appeal her heavy 24-year sentence. Her state-appointed defense team from her first trial plans to submit an appeal by Apr. 13 to have the guilty verdict and hefty sentence overturned. The deadline to file an appeal is within seven days of sentencing in the first trial.

But because public defenders are designated on a court-by-court basis, their responsibilities duties extend only to submitting the appeal. If the prosecutors choose to appeal, a second trial will take place even if Park abandons her own appeal. On the first hearing preparation date for the appeal by Choi Soon-sil – the accomplice in many of Park’s charges – the special prosecutor declared that it would actively battle acquittals from the first trial of charges related to the alleged Samsung bribes.

Many are now looking to see whether Park changes her mind about refusing to participate in her trial once the appeal begins. Some have suggested she may appear in the hopes that it may benefit her in the weighing of charges. But with Park declining to attend any trials since the issuance of an additional arrest warrant in Oct. 2017 – and stating her plans to also boycott another trial on additional charges of improperly accepting “special activity funds” from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) – the likelihood of her making a surprise appearance appears slim.

Attention is also focusing on whether Park and Choi will be tried jointly in the appeal. It is typical for accomplices indicted together to be tried by the same court. One variable in this case is the time difference with Choi, who received her first trial sentence earlier on Feb. 13. With the appellate court in Choi’s case hastening the process – announcing plans for weekly hearings beginning on Apr. 11 – it appears unlikely to wait for Park’s own decision on whether to appeal. Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin, who was tried with Choi in the first trial, has already been assigned to a different court from her.

The biggest issues in the appeal are likely to be the matter of “improper requests” and three horses in the Samsung bribery charges. Of the 18 charges against Park in her first trial, the only full acquittals she received concerned around 22 billion won (US$20.7 million) in funding to the Korea Winter Sports Elite Center and the Mir and K-Sports Foundations, which had been characterized by prosecutors as third party bribery. In that case, the court did not recognize matters concerning Samsung Electronics vice president Lee Jae-yong’s management succession or individual Samsung issues as constituting improper requests.

Courts have also come to differing conclusions of the amount of equestrian support from Samsung recognized as bribery. The second court in Lee’s trial viewed only 3.6 billion won (US$3.4 million) in equestrian support as bribes, while the first trial in Park’s case recognized bribes of around 7.3 billion won (US$6.9 million), including the value of three horses that were given to Choi’s daughter Jung Yoo-ra.

By Hyun So-eun, staff reporter

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