The rebellion special counsel was found on Oct. 17 to have notified former Justice Minister Park Seong-jae of an additional summons for questioning on Oct. 23.

Park Seong-jae, the former justice minister accused of joining former President Yoon Suk-yeol's declaration of martial law, leaves after finishing a pretrial detention hearing at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, Seoul, on the 14th. /Courtesy of News1

According to the legal community, the special counsel plans to conduct additional summons questioning of the former Minister at 3 p.m. on Oct. 23.

Earlier, the special counsel conducted about 13 hours of suspect questioning of the former Minister on Sept. 24. Then, on Oct. 9, it sought an arrest warrant for the former Minister.

However, Park Jeong-ho, the warrant-judge in charge at the Seoul Central District Court, said on Oct. 15 that "concerns about flight and evidence destruction were not sufficiently substantiated," and dismissed the arrest warrant for the former Minister.

In response, the special counsel said it would "take steps to promptly seek the court's judgment again," indicating it would reapply for an arrest warrant.

Special Counsel Assistant Park Ji-young said, "It is hard to accept the points the court cited as reasons for dismissal," adding, "The suspect's awareness of illegality is an obvious fact that requires no dispute." Park added, "The dismissal reason that there is room to contest awareness of illegality is so far removed from objectively recognized facts that it cannot be accepted."

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