The police have handed over the case of President Yoon Suk-yeol and former Minister Kim Yong-hyun's accusations under the criminal code for general espionage to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO).
The special investigation team of the Korean National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters announced on the 19th that the case regarding accusations of general espionage against President Yoon and former Minister Kim had been transferred to the CIO on the 16th. The special investigation team is working with the CIO and the Ministry of National Defense's investigation headquarters as part of a joint investigation body and is cooperating on the investigation of the 12/3 emergency martial law incident.
The Democratic Party of Korea previously filed a complaint against President Yoon and former Minister Kim with the police on the 9th under accusations of general espionage in the criminal code. In Young-woo, the Democratic Party's legal committee chairperson, while submitting the complaint, noted, “There is a report that on the 3rd, before President Yoon declared emergency martial law, there were plans to incite a local conflict with the North by deploying drones into Pyongyang, targeting the origin points of waste balloon launches, and more.” The special investigation team conducted an investigation with Lee Dong-hyuk, a lawyer for the Democratic Party, on the 14th.
Article 99 of the Criminal Code, which covers general espionage, falls under the 'crimes of foreign aggression.' Anyone who harms South Korea's military interests or benefits an enemy country militarily can be sentenced to life imprisonment or at least three years in prison. The president is immune from criminal prosecution while in office, except for rebellion and foreign aggression crimes.
The police have also handed over the case regarding accusations of rebellion against President Yoon to the CIO, as has the prosecution. However, the investigation into the accusations of general espionage is unresolved between the prosecution and the CIO since the prosecution is holding custody over former Minister Kim.
The prosecution's emergency martial law special investigation headquarters is reportedly examining not only former Minister Kim's rebellion accusations but also those related to general espionage. It is reported that former Minister Kim's side refused to answer related questions, expressing resistance to the effect that 'the prosecution is asking about matters unrelated to the allegations against the defendant.'