All Prepared Questions Addressed,
Little Likelihood of Further Investigation
The special prosecutor team led by Cho Eunseok, which is investigating the '12·3 Martial Law' incident, has completed two rounds of in-person questioning of former President Yoon Sukyeol and is expected to soon decide whether to request an arrest warrant.
According to the legal community on July 6, the special investigation team on insurrection conducted a second round of questioning on July 5, during which former President Yoon was interrogated for 14 hours and 30 minutes, and the process of reviewing the written statements was also completed. It has been reported that former President Yoon did not exercise his right to remain silent at any point during the questioning and responded to all questions by stating his position.
Including the first round of questioning (held on June 28), all major questions prepared by the special prosecutor have now been addressed. Accordingly, the special prosecutor believes that former President Yoon has been given ample opportunity to explain himself and is likely to proceed with seeking an arrest warrant without further summons for questioning.
The upcoming arrest warrant is expected to include more charges than the previous detention warrant. Previously, on June 24, the special prosecutor requested a detention warrant citing charges of obstruction of special official duties, abuse of authority, and violation of the Presidential Security Act (incitement to abuse of authority) under the Criminal Act. These charges were based on the allegation that former President Yoon used the Presidential Security Service to block the execution of an arrest warrant by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in January, and on circumstances suggesting that immediately after the declaration of martial law, he ordered the deletion of secure phone records of military personnel through the security service.
In addition, the special prosecutor is also considering adding charges related to the allegation that, in order to meet the legal quorum of 11 members at the Cabinet meeting to deliberate on martial law, only selected cabinet members were called, resulting in some, such as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Juho, not even being notified of the meeting. To verify these facts, the special prosecutor has already questioned key aides at the time, including Kang Uigu, former Presidential Secretary, Kim Junghwan, former Chief Secretary, as well as former Prime Minister Han Ducksoo, Minister of Science and ICT Yoo Sangim, and Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Deokgeun.
Furthermore, testimony has been secured that, in an attempt to conceal legal flaws in the initial martial law proclamation, former Secretary Kang Uigu later printed a revised proclamation, obtained signatures from former Prime Minister Han Ducksoo and former Minister of National Defense Kim Yonghyun, and then, after obtaining former President Yoon's signature on December 7, disposed of the document. On this basis, the possibility of applying charges of falsifying official documents is also being raised.
Additionally, the special prosecutor is investigating evidence that former President Yoon instructed the military’s Drone Operations Command to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles over Pyongyang. This is being examined as a charge of treason, on the grounds that he deliberately heightened military tensions to justify the need for martial law; like insurrection, this is a serious crime punishable by the maximum sentence under the law.
While the charge of treason was not fully investigated during the earlier phase by the special investigation headquarters established by the prosecution, the special prosecutor’s team has been intensively verifying the facts since launching its investigation, based on testimony from relevant military officials.
Special Prosecutor Park Jiyoung stated at a briefing on July 4, "A significant number of military officials have been questioned."
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