Prosecutors Transfer Yoon Seok-yeol and Lee Sang-min Cases on 'December 3 Emergency Martial Law' to the Corruption Investigation Office

The prosecution, which has been investigating allegations of the illegal declaration of martial law on December 3, will transfer the case involving President Yoon Seok-yeol and former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min on charges of rebellion to the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (HOCI).

On the 18th, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office announced through a press release, "After discussions regarding the HOCI's request for case transfer, including measures to prevent duplicate investigations, it was decided to transfer the cases of President Yoon and former Minister Lee to the HOCI." The HOCI decided to withdraw its request for the transfer of other suspects except for President Yoon and former Minister Lee.

The martial law case has been investigated by three bodies: the Special Investigation Headquarters of the prosecution, the Special Investigation Unit of the National Police Agency, and the HOCI. As concerns over overlapping investigations grew due to the competitive nature of the investigations by each agency, the HOCI requested the prosecution and police to transfer the case. To alleviate these concerns, the HOCI also formed a Joint Investigation Headquarters (Joint HQ) in cooperation with the police and the Ministry of National Defense Investigation Headquarters.

The police partially accepted the HOCI's request and handed over the investigation of high-ranking officials suspected of involvement in the martial law, including President Yoon, former Minister Lee, former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, Army Chief of Staff Park An-su (former Martial Law Commander), Commander of the Defense Counterintelligence Command Yeo In-hyung, and Commander of the Intelligence Command of the Defense Security Command Moon Sang-ho, to the HOCI.