The Ministry of the Interior and Safety's National Records Management Institute said on the 15th that it has decided to accept the request from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials to prohibit the disposal of records related to the state of emergency declared on Dec. 3.
Accordingly, on that day, the National Records Management Institute announced the prohibition of disposal of records related to the state of emergency in the official gazette. This information has also been communicated to the relevant institutions.
The institutions subject to the prohibition of disposal of records related to the state of emergency are ▲ Office of the President ▲ National Security Office ▲ Presidential Security Service ▲ Presidential Archives ▲ Ministry of National Defense ▲ Ministry of the Interior and Safety ▲ Joint Chiefs of Staff ▲ Military Counterintelligence Command ▲ Intelligence Command ▲ Army, Air Force, Navy Headquarters and subordinate units ▲ Capital Defense Command ▲ Special Warfare Command ▲ Korean National Police Agency ▲ Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency, and subordinate police stations ▲ National Assembly Secretariat ▲ National Election Commission, among others.
These institutions must preserve records related to the state of emergency for five years from the date of the announcement of the prohibition. Additionally, during this period, records related to the state of emergency will be excluded from the evaluation and review of the Records Evaluation Committee.
Meanwhile, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials requested the National Records Management Institute on Dec. 10 of last year to prohibit the disposal of relevant records to clarify the truth of the state of emergency incident. According to the Act on the Management of Public Records, the head of the National Records Management Institute may decide to prohibit the disposal of records if there is a request from an investigation agency or a necessity for the urgent protection of the public interest for a matter of national significance.