On the 17th, the special investigation team for insurrection summoned Kim Yong-dae, the commander of the drone operation, again as a key suspect in the 'Pyongyang drone case.'
The special investigation team led by Jo Eun-seok reportedly began questioning Commander Kim in his capacity as a suspect from 10 a.m. that day. This comes three days after questioning him for about 12 hours on the 14th.
Commander Kim is considered a key figure related to allegations of foreign currency and espionage linked to the drone operations in Pyongyang. The special investigation team is investigating whether former President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered the deployment of drones to Pyongyang around October last year to create a justification for declaring a state of emergency.
There were allegations of 'Joint Chiefs of Staff bypassing,' where the planning and preparation stages of the operation were conducted skipping the normal command path of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and it has been alleged that Kim Yong-hyun, the then Minister of the National Security Agency, was involved in this process. It was also revealed that around June last year, during the planning stage of the operation, Minister Kim contacted several key military officials via a secure phone to inquire about the drone operations. The investigation team is continuing its investigation, believing that if Minister Kim, who stepped outside the military command structure, was involved in the drone operations as a civilian and received reports, that alone could constitute a legal violation.
The special investigation team is also probing whether the military acted organizationally to conceal the operation afterward. The team suspects that the drone company falsely reported internal documents as if two drones had flown when only one drone actually flew on October 15 last year. After a drone sent to North Korea on October 8-9 crashed, it is alleged that they created a 'false post-event report' to disguise it as lost during training. It has been reported that the special investigation team has also caught indications that the drone company manipulated GPS records.
There are also statements that after the lifting of the martial law, the military ordered the destruction of leaflets and directed that any remaining leaflets be returned to the Psychological Operations Command of the Republic of Korea, indicating evidence destruction.
In relation to this, last month, the special investigation team applied charges of forgery and use of false public documents against Commander Kim and requested an arrest warrant. However, the court dismissed the warrant, stating that Commander Kim generally acknowledged the factual circumstances and basic evidence had been collected.
The special investigation team plans to review whether to reapply for an arrest warrant after reconfirming the overall allegations against Commander Kim.