On the 19th, the special prosecutor team led by Joe Eun-seok, which is investigating the insurrection and foreign exchange incidents related to the 'Dec. 3 emergency martial law,' submitted former President Yoon Suk-yeol to trial while in custody. This is the second time Former President Yoon has been referred to trial following his arrest and indictment on insurrection leader charges by the emergency martial law special investigation team in January.
The special prosecutor team met with reporters at 3 p.m. that day and stated that they have indicted Former President Yoon while in custody on charges including obstruction of special public duty and abuse of power. The indictment was made at 2:40 p.m. Former President Yoon was referred to trial while in custody after his request for bail was rejected the previous day.
The charges brought by the special prosecutor team include infringement on the advisory rights of cabinet members, post-facto preparation of the martial law declaration document, false public relations related to martial law, orders to delete encrypted phone records, and obstruction of the execution of arrest warrants. Former President Yoon is accused of infringing upon the constitutional rights of nine other cabinet members by only summoning some to give the appearance of a cabinet meeting before declaring emergency martial law on December 3 of last year.
After the lifting of the emergency martial law, he is also accused of creating a false martial law declaration document and destroying this document, which is both a presidential record and a public document.
Former President Yoon is also accused of directing the dissemination of a PG (press guidance – the government stance for media response) containing false information that there was 'not the slightest intention to disrupt the constitutional order' to foreign media. Additionally, he is accused of ordering the deletion of encrypted phone communication records of former Army Counterintelligence Command Chief Lee In-hyung and others. Furthermore, he is accused of having directed the Presidential Security Service to prevent the execution of an arrest warrant by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in January.
The foreign exchange charges, which are still under investigation, have not been included in the indictment. The allegation is that Former President Yoon tried to provoke North Korea by infiltrating a drone into Pyongyang to build a justification for declaring martial law. Depending on the progress of the foreign exchange investigation in the future, there is a possibility that Former President Yoon could face additional charges.
After arresting Former President Yoon on the 10th, the special prosecutor team attempted to compel his attendance for questioning, but this was unsuccessful. While they can conduct investigations while in custody for up to 20 days, they opted for an early indictment just nine days into his detention. This decision appears to have been made based on his uncooperative attitude, including his request for a bail review.
The special prosecutor team expressed regret over the failure to question Former President Yoon, stating, 'We will consider a series of behaviors during the investigation when determining the sentence.'
With Former President Yoon's indictment, the rest of the investigation is expected to accelerate. Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who has been identified as an accomplice in the foreign exchange charges and the charges related to the creation of a false martial law declaration document, and former President's Office Secretary General Kang Yi-goo, as well as former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, who is suspected of issuing orders related to media outages, are also under investigation.
A special prosecutor representative stated during a briefing, 'Today's indictment is limited to Former President Yoon, and investigations regarding others are still ongoing.' He also indicated that if Former President Yoon does not cooperate with the future investigations related to foreign exchange, they would seek to obtain an arrest warrant for compulsory investigation.
Another representative from the special prosecutor team remarked, 'In a situation where the entire nation is suffering from damage due to flooding, we felt it was not appropriate for there to be further controversy regarding the departure, so we considered that aspect in making today's indictment.'