Special Counsel Expands Martial Law Probe With Raids on Prosecutors’ Network, Joint Chiefs

Kwon Chang-young’s second comprehensive special counsel team, which is investigating remaining allegations after the three special counsel probes (insurrection, Kim Keon-hee and the deceased Marine), is accelerating its follow-up investigation into the Dec. 3 martial law declaration. The team has carried out searches and seizures targeting the prosecution’s internal network and Joint Chiefs of Staff-related suspects, while questioning Yeo In-hyeong and National Security Office officials as witnesses.

Special Counsel Assistant Kim Jimi said at a regular briefing on the 27th at the special counsel office in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, that the team summoned three suspects and 52 witnesses for questioning last week. Of those, 15 were witnesses in the insurrection case.

The team is searching and seizing servers for e-Pros, the prosecution’s internal network, to verify allegations that former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung was involved in the Dec. 3 martial law declaration and to determine why prosecutors did not file an immediate appeal of a court decision canceling the detention of former President Yoon Suk Yeol. The team plans to continue the search through this week.

The special counsel also carried out compulsory measures involving Joint Chiefs of Staff personnel. Kim said the team executed search-and-seizure warrants for three suspects in connection with allegations of performing key duties in the insurrection.

In a separate line of inquiry into allegations that the Korea Coast Guard took part in martial law, investigators visited Yeo at the Seoul Detention Center to question him as a witness. Yeo is a witness in a case involving allegations that Ahn Seong-sik, former planning and coordination officer at the Coast Guard, was involved in the insurrection. Ahn is suspected of being involved in reflecting language in internal counterintelligence rules that would automatically dispatch Coast Guard personnel if a joint investigation headquarters is formed after a martial law declaration.

The team is also pursuing an investigation involving the National Security Office. It questioned the head of the NSO crisis management center as a witness on the 27th, and previously questioned former Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul as a witness.

Former Defense Intelligence Command chief Noh Sang-won did not provide any statements during questioning, Kim said. “Noh refused to make any statement,” she said, adding, “If he refuses to testify, we have no choice but to assess the case based on other evidence.” The team is reviewing allegations tied to Noh’s so-called “Investigation Unit 2” and the contents of the “Noh Sang-won notebook.”

In the case involving allegations of outside pressure on the investigation into the death of a Marine, the team said it obtained some meaningful statements from Jeong Jong-beom, former deputy commander of the Marine Corps. Investigators also questioned Lee Si-won, former senior presidential secretary for public service discipline, as a witness.

The probe into allegations involving the closure of the North Jeolla provincial government office is also moving forward. The team notified Kim Kwan-young, governor of North Jeolla Special Self-Governing Province, to appear at 2 p.m. on the 30th as a suspect on allegations of aiding the insurrection. Kim has been reported over alleged access restrictions at the provincial government office and eight city and county offices in the province during the Dec. 3 martial law declaration.

The special counsel is also investigating allegations involving first lady Kim Keon-hee. The team questioned two prosecution investigators as witnesses who participated in the probes into the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case and the Dior bag case. It plans to summon a former Presidential Security Service employee as a witness this week. The team previously completed a search and seizure of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office information and communications division.

In the investigation into allegations surrounding the relocation of the presidential residence, the team has questioned 19 witnesses so far. To determine whether Kim Keon-hee improperly intervened, investigators executed search-and-seizure warrants at the residences of Covana Contents-related figures and questioned four related witnesses. Searches and seizures were also carried out targeting two staff members of People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Han-hong.

In the case involving allegations of a cover-up of an investigation into the Unification Church, the team completed searches and seizures at the National Police Agency, the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency and the Chuncheon Police Station. It plans to summon people connected to foreign intelligence within the police in sequence this week.

Separately, the team said it has named the allegations tied to the Ssangbangwool remittances to North Korea case, which were transferred from the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office, as the “case involving allegations of presidential office interference in the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office investigation.” The team said it changed the name to more objectively describe the target of the investigation, noting that the previous wording could include subjective judgment.