The special counsel investigating the insurrection case said on the 24th that it summoned former Capital Defense Command chief Lee Jin-woo and is conducting an interview with him as a reference witness.
The special counsel team called in the former commander in the morning to question him over alleged foreign exchange issues. The former commander is currently on trial on charges of engaging in important duties related to an insurrection.
The former commander is said to have met Kim Yong-dae, then head of the Drone Operations Command, in May last year and proposed a joint air defense drill in response to North Korea's unmanned aerial vehicle incursion.
At the time, former commander Kim felt burdened about conducting the response drill in the capital area and suggested looking for other options, and there was reportedly no further progress afterward.
According to materials submitted by the Capital Defense Command to Boo Seung-chan of the Democratic Party of Korea, the former commander visited the drone command on May 23 last year for the "purpose of a tactical discussion to prepare for rear-area terror in the Capital Defense Command and the drone command."
Joint drills to respond to a North Korean unmanned aerial vehicle infiltration were conducted on Mar. 27 and Jun. 20 last year under the direction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
According to the former commander's indictment, the former commander met former Counterintelligence Command chief Yeo In-hyung and former Army Special Warfare Command chief Kwak Jong-geun in the Gangnam area of Seoul around May last year and discussed whether the martial law mentioned by former President Yoon Suk-yeol and former Minister of the Ministry of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun was realistic. Around the time of that meeting, he visited former commander Kim and proposed a joint drill.
Starting in February last year, the former commander created and operated "Guardian TF," a counterterrorism special mission unit within the Capital Defense Command, and questions were raised that the Guardian TF's structure resembled the drone command's Northward Infiltration TF.
The former commander, former commander Yeo, and former commander Kim are all classmates from the 48th class of the Korea Military Academy.