'Busan spinning-kick' attacker skips appeal trial again, this time citing dissatisfaction with lawyer

The reasons behind the repeated absences of the perpetrator in the "Busan spinning-kick case" — who faces additional charges of threatening his victim with retaliation — have been made public as his appeal trial continues to be delayed.

The Busan High Court's Second Criminal Division, presided over by Judge Park Un-sam, disclosed Tuesday the reasons the defendant, identified only as A, submitted to the court for his failure to appear.

A skipped the appeal hearing held May 27 and again failed to appear at the session scheduled for Wednesday, causing two consecutive postponements.

According to the court, A submitted a statement for the first hearing citing health reasons that made attendance difficult. For the second, he cited dissatisfaction with his court-appointed defense attorney.

The court determined that neither reason constituted sufficient grounds to justify postponing the proceedings.

The next hearing has been set for July 22, and the court notified A that the trial will proceed even if he fails to appear again.

Starting this month, courts have been applying an amended version of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Promotion of Litigation, designed to prevent defendants from dragging out proceedings through repeated absences. Under the law, if a defendant who has appeared at least once subsequently skips a hearing without justification, the trial may proceed without their testimony — though this provision applies only to first-instance trials.