“Guilty or innocent? Which verdict is just?”
A judge’s record of his ordinary yet heated final trial
In recent years, works by judges, lawyers, and public prosecutors have often become bestsellers in South Korea. It is presumably because readers are unexpectedly won over by the human aspects of those in the legal profession, which lie hidden under seemingly stern judges’ gowns. The Trial Will Now Begin is the first collection of essays by Jeong Jae-Min, a figure with a diverse career history: previously a judge, he made his literary debut with a novel (recipient of the 10th Segye Literary Award) and currently works for the Defense Acquisition Program Administration under the Ministry of Defense. Following the procedures of criminal cases, this volume recounts what the author felt during the final trial over which he presided. As such, it reflects the countless thoughts that he entertained while working as a judge for over 10 years. As a former judge and a writer now, he unfolds stories about trials, laws, justice in daily life, and people in courtrooms far more richly, frankly, and freely than incumbent judges can.
Dealing with the process through which criminal cases are held in actual courtrooms, this volume conveys accounts of those who laugh and cry there and the feelings of judges, who laugh and cry together inwardly despite their outward maintenance of expressionless faces, in a warm and delightful style. Examining not only trials but also the diverse lives of the defendants, the author shows that even courtrooms, which seem like rigid and stern spaces, have people in them and, above all, are places where human lives unfold passionately.