On the 20th, it was revealed that the Korean National Police Agency's Special Investigation Team for Martial Law summoned Park Jong-jun, the Minister of Presidential Security, as a reference.
According to the police, the special investigation team recently called Minister Park to the National Investigation Headquarters twice to investigate the movements of Minister Park and President Yoon before and after the martial law declaration. It is reported that they particularly focused on investigating the "secret house meeting" held about three hours before the martial law declaration, where President Yoon summoned Commissioner Cho Ji-ho and others.
Commissioner Cho and others stated in the police investigation that they headed to the secret house after receiving a call from Minister Park saying, "He wants to see you." Kim Yong-hyun, the former Minister of National Defense and the first Minister of Security under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, also attended the secret house meeting. Minister Park succeeded former Minister Kim.
Minister Park is also connected to Nosang Won, the former director of intelligence, who is suspected of having planned the martial law situation in civilian capacity, and worked at the presidential security service during the Park Geun-hye administration. Minister Park served as the Vice Minister of the Presidential Security Service from June 2013 to October 2015, and former Director No worked as a military manager at the security service managing soldiers dispatched to the Blue House during a similar period.
Therefore, the police's special investigation team suspects that Minister Park might have known about the martial law in advance or been involved in it. Depending on the investigation results, there is a possibility that Minister Park could be converted to a suspect. However, it is reported that Minister Park denied this during the investigation.
Minister Park's side stated, "It is difficult to speak about specific matters due to security issues," but added, "On the evening of the martial law day, Park reached out to Commissioner Cho and Administrator Kim without any knowledge of related matters and did not attend the meeting, thus remaining unaware of its content." They also said that they hadn't contacted former Director No since retiring as Vice Minister of the security office in 2015. Minister Park's side added that they attended the special investigation team of the National Investigation Headquarters as a reference and provided testimony diligently.
This investigation is known to be the first instance where the police have investigated a related official from the presidential office regarding the martial law situation. Currently, the security office is in conflict with the police over whether to allow a search and seizure of the presidential office.