Former Presidential Chief of Staff Jeong Jin-seok, who is suspected of ordering the wiping of about 1,000 personal computers (PCs) in the presidential office immediately after former President Yoon Suk-yeol was removed from office, appeared before police and is being questioned.
The Special Investigation Headquarters (SIU) of the police summoned Jeong, the former chief of staff, at about 10:10 a.m. on the 8th as a suspect on charges including damaging public electronic records, violating the Presidential Records Management Act, and abuse of authority, and is under investigation.
The former chief is accused, along with former presidential office General Affairs Secretary Yoon Jae-soon, of attempting to destroy evidence related to the Dec. 3 martial law situation. Yoon appeared before the SIU on the 3rd and was questioned. The SIU took over the remaining cases that the so-called "three special prosecutors" failed to complete and is currently investigating.
Earlier, the special prosecutor's team secured testimony that Yoon instructed presidential office staff at the time to "dispose of the PCs by throwing them into a steel mill blast furnace." However, because the volume of presidential records was massive, the investigation could not be completed within the mandated period, and the case was transferred to the police.