Attorney Kim Yong-hyun of Daeryuk Aju, Serving as Advisor for One Year
Accompanied by Former Public Prosecutor and Others During Late-Night Investigation on the 8th
Daeryuk Aju, a major law firm, will represent former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, who was urgently arrested by the prosecution as the ringleader of the 12·3 Emergency Martial Law incident. Kim previously served as an advisor at Daeryuk Aju for about a year.
According to the legal community on the 8th, Kim voluntarily appeared at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office around 1:30 a.m. that day along with two lawyers from Daeryuk Aju and underwent questioning.
Kim, who retired as an Army Lieutenant General, served as an advisor at Daeryuk Aju from April 2021 to March 2022, about a year after his discharge in 2017. As Kim was identified as the ringleader of the emergency martial law incident and the prosecution and police focused their investigative efforts, it is reported that Kim requested legal representation from Daeryuk Aju, with whom he had a working relationship.
It is reported that two lawyers accompanied Kim during the investigation, including attorney Yoon Sang-hyuk, a former prosecutor at the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (HOCI), and one colleague. Attorney Yoon served in various roles at HOCI, including investigation planning officer and positions in Investigation Divisions 1, 2, and 4, as well as the Public Prosecution Division, gaining experience in corruption investigations and election case prosecutions.
Daeryuk Aju is also the firm where Lee Kyu-chul, the managing representative attorney who served as a special prosecutor during the 'Choi Soon-sil State Affairs Manipulation Special Prosecutor' investigation team in which President Yoon Seok-yeol participated as a prosecutor, is currently in charge of management.
Kim is one year senior to President Yoon at Chung-Ang High School and is considered the figure who proposed the declaration of emergency martial law to the president and effectively led it alongside him. Kim stated, "I will actively cooperate with the investigation into the public's suspicions," and voluntarily appeared at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office around 1:30 a.m. on the 8th for questioning. The prosecution's Emergency Martial Law Special Investigation Headquarters announced around 8 a.m., about six hours later, that "former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun was urgently arrested and his mobile phone was seized."
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