Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo appeared before the Special Prosecutor investigating treason on the 22nd. He is under suspicion of aiding and abetting the declaration of the state of emergency on 12·3.
On that day, Han arrived at the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office, where the Special Prosecutor is located, around 9:24 a.m. After being questioned for about 16 hours and 20 minutes on the 19th, he returned three days later. Previously, the Special Prosecutor conducted the first round of questioning of Han on July 2 for about 13 hours and 40 minutes and searched his home on the 24th of the same month.
When reporters asked, "Do you acknowledge the charges of participating in treason and aiding it?" "Did you receive the state of emergency documents directly from former President Yoon Suk-yeol?" and "What was the reason for changing your statement regarding the state of emergency documents?" Han Duck-soo did not respond at all.
The Special Prosecutor regards Han Duck-soo as a suspect in connection with serious offenses related to treason and perjury. The Special Prosecutor is set to investigate accusations that Han aided or abetted the emergency declaration made by former President Yoon Suk-yeol on December 3 last year. It is expected that they will inquire whether Han was involved in the decision-making process before and after the declaration of the state of emergency as the vice chair of the Cabinet meeting.
Han is also under suspicion of being involved in the process of drafting and then discarding a new state of emergency declaration after Yoon declared the state of emergency. Reports suggest that Han Duck-soo signed the documents written by former presidential secretary for communications, Kang I-gook, after the declaration and later requested to treat it as if it never happened, saying there could be controversy if the fact of post-document creation was revealed. Subsequently, the document was ultimately discarded.
Additionally, Han is also suspected of perjury by claiming, during the impeachment trial of former President Yoon and in the National Assembly, that he "did not recognize the state of emergency declaration documents."
However, during the investigation on the 19th, Han reportedly stated that he received the declaration document from former President Yoon. It is known that the Special Prosecutor secured closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage showing Han taking out a document presumed to be the declaration of the state of emergency from his suit pocket.
Moreover, Han is suspected of being involved in obstructing the National Assembly's decision to lift the state of emergency while talking on the phone with People Power Party lawmaker Choo Kyung-ho, who was the floor leader at the time, around 11:12 p.m. on the night of the declaration. He is also suspected of having instructed former Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yoo In-chon to restrict access to institutions under the Ministry of Culture, such as the Korea National University of Arts, immediately after declaring the state of emergency.
Meanwhile, following the third round of questioning that day, there is a possibility that the Special Prosecutor will seek an arrest warrant for Han Duck-soo. Park Ji-young, the deputy special prosecutor for treason, noted in a press briefing on the 20th that about 60% to 70% of the investigation had been conducted up to the second round of questioning.