The Marine special counsel will summon former Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-sup as a suspect for questioning on the 23rd.
According to the legal community on the 16th, the special counsel team plans to question the former Minister, a suspect on charges of abuse of authority and interference with the exercise of rights, starting at 10 a.m. on the 23rd.
Earlier, the special counsel said it would also question the former Minister at 10 a.m. on the 17th. However, that session is as a reference witness, not as a suspect.
The former Minister became a subject of investigation as the special counsel sought to verify the "VIP rage" account. The "VIP rage" refers to suspicions that Yoon Suk-yeol, the former president, became enraged after receiving a report on the investigation results of the death of Sergeant Chae at the senior presidential secretaries' meeting at 11 a.m. on Jul. 31, 2023, and that afterward the former Minister ordered a media briefing and a hold on referring the case to the police. In response, the special counsel in Jul. conducted searches and seizures at more than 10 locations, including the former Minister's home, the Ministry of National Defense, and the National Security Office.
There are also "overseas flight" suspicions surrounding the former Minister. The overseas flight suspicion is that the former president Yoon appointed the former Minister, who was under suspicion of exerting outside pressure on the investigation into Sergeant Chae, as ambassador to Australia in Mar. last year and lifted the travel ban to enable his flight.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), which investigated allegations that there was outside pressure on the investigation into Sergeant Chae's death, applied for a travel ban on the former Minister on Dec. 7, 2023, and the Ministry of Justice imposed the ban the next day. The CIO subsequently extended the former Minister's travel ban three times. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Mar. 4 of the following year that the former Minister had been appointed ambassador to Australia, and four days later, on the 8th, the Ministry of Justice lifted the travel ban on the former Minister, who was a suspect.