The special investigation team led by Cho Eun-seok investigating the charges of insurrection and foreign exchange under the emergency martial law of Dec. 3 is accelerating its efforts to reconstruct the circumstances in the National Assembly on the day of the martial law.
According to the legal community on the 9th, the insurrection special investigation team is examining whether there were intentional violations of voting rights during the voting process for the resolution demanding the lifting of martial law in the National Assembly in the early morning of Dec. 4, the day after the declaration of the emergency martial law.
The special investigation team has requested People Power Party member Cho Kyung-tae to attend a witness investigation on the 11th. On the 30th of last month, they summoned Democratic Party of Korea member Kim Sang-wook, who was affiliated with the People Power Party at the time of the martial law, as a witness.
On the 7th, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik appeared as a witness and detailed the situation during the martial law, including the blockade of the National Assembly.
Members Cho and Kim are among the 18 members of the People Power Party who participated in the voting on the resolution demanding the lifting of martial law in the National Assembly early on Dec. 4. Speaker Woo is the person who managed the National Assembly for about 155 minutes from the declaration of the emergency martial law to the passing of the resolution demanding the lifting of the martial law.
At that time, the resolution was passed with 190 members present and 190 in favor, despite 90 of the 108 People Power Party members not participating.
The special investigation team plans to focus on investigating whether former President Yoon Suk-yeol and former People Power Party floor leader Chu Kyung-ho were involved in the circumstances leading to a significant number of People Power Party members being unable to attend the vote.
Immediately after the declaration of martial law, former floor leader Chu announced the location of the emergency general meeting as the National Assembly, then changed it to the Yeouido headquarters. He then announced it back to the National Assembly before changing it again to the Yeouido headquarters.
The side of former floor leader Chu explained that they changed the location due to restrictions on entry to the National Assembly, but the special investigation team is investigating whether he conspired with former President Yoon to intentionally change the meeting location to obstruct the participation of People Power Party members in the vote.
The special investigation team has also begun a legal review regarding whether the People Power Party leadership, including former floor leader Chu, violated the voting rights of the members.
Earlier, while indicting former President Yoon, it was judged that his notification of the meeting to only some of the ministers before the declaration of martial law infringed on the deliberative rights of nine commissioners who could not attend the meeting, and they are checking whether this can be interpreted in a similar context.
Records have also been secured showing that former President Yoon spoke by phone with former floor leader Chu and Na Kyung-won about an hour after the declaration of martial law. It seems that clarifying whether there were specific instructions from former President Yoon to prevent People Power Party members from participating in the vote will be crucial.
The special investigation team plans to launch a full-scale investigation indiscriminately, regardless of ruling or opposition party members, as necessary in the future.