A second comprehensive special counsel team investigating allegations of prior planning for the Dec. 3 martial law declaration began an on-site inspection of military facilities on Yeonpyeong Island to verify locations tied to alleged roundup and detention plans written in the so-called “Noh Sang-won notebook.”
The special counsel team said it was conducting the inspection Tuesday at military sites on Yeonpyeong Island.
Investigators are focusing on whether notes in the notebook referring to a “collection point” match actual facilities. They are also examining whether the sites have structures that could be used as detention facilities, according to reports.
Assistant Special Counsel Kim Chi-heon told reporters Monday that the team had obtained and would execute a warrant to verify locations linked to the notebook. “The special counsel, the assistant special counsel and the investigative team will go together,” he said.
Kim said the team first sought and received warrants from a judge in connection with what was written in the notebook.
He declined to identify the inspection targets, citing security, but said there are existing facilities that could be seen as having enough space to be used for detention.
The inspection is part of the special counsel’s broader effort to corroborate the notebook’s authenticity and how it was written. The team is also reviewing indications that the Defense Counterintelligence Command prepared for martial law from the first half of 2024, including site visits to military facilities and plans for troop operations.
The notebook, kept by former Defense Intelligence Command chief Noh Sang-won, is reported to list prominent politicians, judges and civil society figures as “targets for roundup,” and to include terms such as “collection point,” “follow-up measures” and “discarded after use.” Some media outlets have reported suspicions that facilities on Yeonpyeong Island and in the Hwacheon area of Gangwon Province are connected to the locations described in the notebook.
Aju Economy previously reported, citing a tip, that Noh also considered ways to eliminate agents deployed in a martial law operation, along with allegations tied to the “discarded after use” memo and the use of special operatives.
The special counsel team has also reportedly secured statements during recent questioning that, shortly before martial law, a military intelligence unit checked the Yeonpyeong Island facility in advance.
However, in February, the first-trial court in former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s case on charges of being the ringleader of an insurrection said it was difficult to determine when the notebook was written and that some parts do not match actual facts, limiting its evidentiary value.
The special counsel team said it will continue to determine whether the notebook is connected to actual martial law preparations through the on-site inspection and additional witness statements.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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