Former Commissioner General Cho Ji-ho said former Defense Counterintelligence Command chief Yeo In-hyung demanded location tracking to arrest politicians during martial law.
Cho stated accordingly when he appeared as a witness at the continued trial on the 29th in the Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Division 25 (presiding judge Jee Kui-youn) on former President Yoon Suk-yeol's charge of leading an insurrection. He testified that after martial law was declared on Dec. 3 last year, he received messages from former commander Yeo saying "martial law forces are expected to enter" and "we will arrest 15 politicians, so please conduct location tracking."
Cho also explained, "I told (former commander Yeo) that location tracking requires a warrant issued by a court and that it is not possible now." He added that he thought, "This person doesn't know investigations well." He also testified that although he was briefed by the Korean National Police Agency National Office of Investigation (NOI) that "the counterintelligence command requested assistance with arrests," he instructed them only to prepare.
Former Commissioner General Cho also said that at 6 a.m. the day after martial law, during a call with Park Hyun-soo, then Ministry of the Interior and Safety Director General for the police bureau, he "thought of former commander Yeo as a 'crazy person.'" When the attorney for former NOI investigation planning and coordination officer Yoon Seung-young asked, "Is it correct that you thought former commander Yeo, who was asking for help with tracking politicians' locations, was a crazy person?" he said, "Yes. Park and I often use strong language."
He continued, "At the time, I did not act on the premise that martial law was unconstitutional or illegal. Even if it differs from my convictions, if it is in the law, I must follow it," adding, "I thought former commander Yeo's call made no sense, but if it was according to the law, I should cooperate."
Former President Yoon's defense team again argued that former Commissioner General Cho's previous testimony that "there was a presidential order to arrest lawmakers who scale walls" lacks credibility.
The attorneys asked, "Recently you testified that the first call (with the former president) was about controlling the National Assembly and the subsequent call was to catch lawmakers who scaled a wall, but in your initial police statement, you said both were to arrest members of the National Assembly. Isn't it that you changed your testimony while preparing because it doesn't fit the circumstances?"
In response, former Commissioner General Cho said, "What I remember precisely are these two: 'Arrest them' and 'It's illegal.'" When asked whether "scaling a wall" was a premise, he said, "I'm not certain," but added, "I don't know in which call I heard it, but I clearly heard something to the effect of 'Arrest them' and 'It's illegal.'"