On December 13, the special prosecutor's team led by Cho Eunseok, which is investigating allegations of insurrection and foreign collusion related to the December 3 Martial Law, announced that former Minister of National Defense Kim Yonghyun has been additionally indicted on charges of leaking military secrets under the Military Criminal Act and violating the Personal Information Protection Act. As the special prosecutor's team is nearing the end of its investigation, this is expected to be the final indictment.
According to the special prosecutor's team, between October and November of last year, former Minister Kim is accused of conspiring with Moon Sangho, then Commander of the Defense Security Command, Kim Bonggyu, former head of the Central Newspaper Division of the Defense Security Command (Colonel), and Jeong Seonguk, former head of the 2nd Operations Division of the 100th Brigade of the Defense Security Command (Colonel), to leak the list and personal information of approximately 40 agents of the Defense Security Command, including members of the HID (Special Mission Unit), to Noh Sangwon, former Commander of the Defense Security Command, who was a civilian at the time. The special prosecutor's team believes that Kim and Noh attempted to form a "Second Investigation Unit" to investigate alleged election fraud during the martial law situation, based on the list they received.
Previously, Moon, the former Commander, testified as a witness in Noh's trial for violating the Personal Information Protection Act, stating that he had been asked to select personnel for the Second Investigation Unit. He also revealed that on October 14, former Minister Kim called him and said, "Please support former Commander Noh." The first trial verdict for Noh is scheduled for December 15.
The special prosecutor's team appears to have secured physical evidence that former Minister Kim actually instructed the delivery of the list of Defense Security Command agents to former Commander Noh, leading to the additional indictment.
Former Minister Kim was indicted and detained in December of last year on charges of participating in major insurrection-related duties. In June, he was additionally indicted for handing over an encrypted phone, which he received from the Presidential Security Service, to former Commander Noh. With this latest charge, he now also faces accusations of leaking military secrets.
Meanwhile, the official investigation period for the special prosecutor's team on the insurrection case ends on December 14. Special Prosecutor Cho Eunseok is scheduled to announce the comprehensive results of the investigation on December 15.
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