"Political Neutrality Is the Core Value of the NIS... Rejected Direct Involvement in Rebellion"
Former National Intelligence Service Director Cho Tae-yong, who is accused of violating the National Intelligence Service Act, neglect of duty, and perjury, entered the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 11th to undergo a pre-arrest detention hearing. Photo by Yonhap News
Former National Intelligence Service Director Cho Tae-yong has been indicted on charges including violating the National Intelligence Service Act, which prohibits political involvement.
On November 28, the special prosecutor team led by Cho Eunseok, which is investigating the 12·3 Martial Law-related rebellion and treason allegations, indicted former Director Cho under detention on charges of violating the National Intelligence Service Act's ban on political involvement, neglect of duty, perjury, destruction of evidence, falsification and use of official documents, and violating the Act on Testimony and Appraisal before the National Assembly.
Special Prosecutor Park Jiyoung stated during a briefing, "The Director of the National Intelligence Service is not a position to serve a particular political faction or the personal political interests of the president, but rather to prioritize the people and safeguard national security. Despite receiving reports of instructions from former President Yoon to support the arrest of politicians and the occurrence of riotous acts that significantly threatened national security, former Director Cho took no action in his capacity as NIS Director."
She added, "When the situation came to light, he dismissed his subordinates as liars and concealed the facts, using this to serve the interests of a specific political faction. Political neutrality is a core value of the National Intelligence Service, and safeguarding national security must always be the highest priority."
According to the special prosecutor team, former Director Cho is accused of neglecting his duty by failing to report to the National Assembly the plans for declaring martial law, even though he was aware of them before former President Yoon Seokyeol's national address. After the declaration of martial law, he also failed to inform the National Assembly when former First Deputy Director Hong Jangwon reported that the martial law troops were searching for Lee Jaemyung and Han Donghoon.
Former Director Cho is also accused of violating the NIS Act's explicit prohibition on political involvement by providing the NIS closed-circuit (CC) TV footage showing former Deputy Director Hong's movements only to the People Power Party, while withholding footage of his own movements from the Democratic Party of Korea.
However, the special prosecutor team determined that former Director Cho was not directly involved in former President Yoon's acts of rebellion, but was only involved in the aftermath following the lifting of martial law and during the impeachment proceedings, and therefore did not apply charges related to rebellion.
Special Prosecutor Park pointed out, "It appears that former Director Cho, upon receiving reports from former Deputy Director Hong during martial law, was reluctant to participate directly in the rebellion, as he postponed decisions by saying, 'Let's decide tomorrow morning.' However, by testifying as if he had not heard the arrest instructions, he caused social confusion during the impeachment proceedings."
The special prosecutor team also charged former Director Cho with giving false testimony before the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court, and submitting false written answers to the National Assembly's special committee investigating the rebellion charges.
Additionally, former Director Cho faces charges of involvement in the deletion of secure phone information by former President Yoon and former Deputy Director Hong (destruction of evidence).
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