Court to Decide on Arrest of Lee Eun-woo, Former KTV Director, on Sedition Charges

The arrest status of Lee Eun-woo, former director of the Korea Policy Broadcasting (KTV), who faces sedition charges related to the emergency martial law, is expected to be decided on the 21st.

According to legal sources on the 19th, Judge Lee Jong-rok of the Seoul Central District Court will conduct a warrant review for Lee on the 21st.

On the 18th, the Special Prosecutors' Team, led by Kwon Chang-young, filed for an arrest warrant against Lee on charges of promoting sedition. This marks the first attempt by the Special Prosecutors' Team to secure the suspect's custody since its establishment in February.

Lee is accused of using his authority over public channel news broadcasts to repeatedly and intensively report on the legitimacy of the martial law and proclamations from December 3 to 13, 2024, while selectively blocking and deleting news that criticized or prevented seditious acts, thereby promoting sedition.

Previously, the Special Prosecutors' Team for Sedition, led by Jo Eun-seok, had only indicted Lee without detention for abuse of authority related to the deletion of scroll news on December 4, 2024. However, the Comprehensive Special Prosecutors' Team has decided to reopen the investigation into the sedition promotion charges.

The Comprehensive Special Prosecutors' Team stated, "Upon reviewing the records of the sedition promotion case against a suspect previously not indicted by the first sedition special investigation, it was confirmed that the suspect's actions supported and protected seditious forces, forgetting the media's duty to check and monitor state power, both during and after the martial law period. Therefore, the suspect's actions fall under the scope of the Comprehensive Special Prosecutors' law investigation."

Meanwhile, during a sentencing hearing on the abuse of authority case against Lee held on the 15th by the 23rd Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court, the Sedition Special Prosecutors' Team requested a five-year prison sentence. The court plans to conduct the sentencing hearing for this case on June 26.