SEOUL, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korean prosecutors on Friday summoned a former top court chief for questioning over his alleged involvement in a judicial power abuse scandal.
Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae, who led the top court from 2011 to September 2017, appeared in the Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office, becoming the first highest court head in the country's history to be called in for interrogation as a criminal suspect.
The 71-year-old was accused of masterminding a so-called "trial dealings," in which the top court ruled in politically and diplomatically sensitive trials in favor of the policy directions of impeached President Park Geun-hye.
In return for it, Yang, then Supreme Court chief justice, allegedly sought to win Park's approval for the establishment of a separate court of appeals, known to have been a long dream of Yang.
Lee Jong-hun, a former deputy chief of the top court's administrative affairs body under the Yang's judiciary branch, was put under custody and indicted in November last year over his involvement in the judicial power abuse scandal.