On the 19th, the Special Investigation Team for the Insurrection formally charged former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min with conspiring to impose martial law. The former minister is accused of directing power outages and water cuts to some media outlets during the martial law period.
Special Prosecutor Park Ji-young noted during a press briefing in the afternoon that "at 5:16 p.m., charges were filed against former Minister Lee for engaging in a critical mission related to insurrection, abuse of authority, and perjury."
Special Prosecutor Park said, "The Minister of the Interior and Safety oversees institutions such as the Korean National Police Agency and the National Fire Agency under the Government Organization Act, holding commanding authority, and manages safety and disaster tasks," adding, "Former Minister Lee participated in a riot aimed at undermining the Constitution, led by former President Yoon Suk-yeol, and abused his authority by directing the Chief of the National Fire Agency to execute power outages and water cuts for specific media outlets, thus engaging in critical missions related to insurrection."
He also remarked, "The former minister (also) perjured himself in order to hide the crimes of himself and his accomplices, ignoring the public's desire to know the truth during the impeachment trial of the president."
Special Prosecutor Park stated, "The former minister was one of the people who entered the presidential office before the State Council meeting to declare martial law and evaluated whether he actively expressed opposition after hearing about the declaration from the president." He continued, "Even if he basically indicated opposition, this was not specifically carried out, leading to the non-declaration of martial law. There was also a situation where we could sufficiently recognize the nature of the former minister's actions in the video footage from the State Council meeting. We have included that as part of the charges related to critical missions of insurrection."
The former minister is accused of having received instructions from former President Yoon Suk-yeol regarding power outages and water cuts for certain media outlets during the State Council meeting held on Dec. 3 last year, and of having communicated those instructions to the police and fire services.
In addition, the former minister is also charged with giving false testimony at the Constitutional Court. The Special Investigation Team believes that his statement in February during the impeachment trial of former President Yoon, stating, "I have seen a paper note from a distance at the presidential office, but I have never seen a document that detailed the power outages and water cuts," was false.
The former minister was already detained at the Seoul Detention Center after being arrested on the 1st. The Special Investigation Team previously requested an arrest warrant for the former minister on the 28th of last month for charges related to critical missions of insurrection, abuse of authority, and perjury, and the court issued the warrant, citing concerns about potential destruction of evidence.
Subsequently, the Special Investigation Team summoned the former minister for questioning twice on the 4th and the 18th and then filed charges on this day.