The second special counsel launched efforts at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office to secure materials to verify the circumstances behind the decision to forgo an immediate appeal regarding former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung's alleged engagement in critical duties related to insurrection and the decision to cancel the arrest of former President Yoon Suk-yeol.
Special Counsel Kim Ji-mi said at a briefing at the special counsel's office in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, on the 11th that "two search-and-seizure warrants are being executed against the Supreme Prosecutors' Office today." The targets are the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Constitutional Respect Government Innovation task force (TF) investigation materials and electronic approval documents related to the decision to cancel the arrest of the former president Yoon.
Earlier, in the course of the investigation into the Dec. 3 martial law case, the special counsel requested the Supreme Prosecutors' Office to submit the Constitutional Respect TF investigation materials. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office refused, saying they were classified as non-disclosable under relevant regulations. Viewing this as obstruction of the investigation, the special counsel asked the Minister of Justice to initiate disciplinary procedures against the acting prosecutor general and the chief of the inspection department at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.
Kim said, "The comprehensive special counsel team requested the Constitutional Respect Government Innovation task force (TF) investigation materials submitted by the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and the Supreme Prosecutors' Office refused to submit the materials, so we requested disciplinary action," adding, "We obtained and are executing a search-and-seizure warrant for the relevant materials." On the matter of forgoing the immediate appeal, Kim said, "We are also executing a search-and-seizure warrant for the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's electronic approval-related documents."
The Constitutional Respect TF is a temporary body that the Lee Jae-myung administration set up at each administrative agency starting in Nov. last year to "clear out sympathizers with the martial law incident." In the prosecution, Acting Prosecutor General Koo Ja-hyun served as Director General, with Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Department Chief Kim Seong-dong and Supreme Prosecutors' Office Inspection Division 1 Head of Team Joo Hye-jin serving as deputy director and head of team, respectively.
Efforts to secure data from the e-Pros internal server, the prosecution's intranet, are also ongoing. On the 25th of last month, the special counsel began executing a warrant on the e-Pros server at the National Information Resources Service's Gwangju Center in Seo District, Gwangju, and resumed the process on the 7th. Kim explained, "The targets and volume are large and the network line processing speed is slow, so the execution period is being extended," adding, "The warrant execution is expected to continue this week as well, and the end date is undecided."
In connection with alleged favoritism in the transfer of the presidential residence, the special counsel will question former Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport First Vice Minister Kim Oh-jin at 10 a.m. on the 13th as a suspect. At 9:30 a.m. on the 14th, former presidential office secretary for general affairs Yoon Jae-soon has been summoned.
The residence transfer allegations center on claims that 21Gram, an unqualified company, won the construction work through favoritism during the process in which the Yoon Suk-yeol Presidential Transition Committee moved the presidential residence. Whether People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Han-hong, who was the Head of Team of the Blue House Relocation TF at the time, was involved is also under investigation. Twenty-one Gram sponsored exhibitions hosted by Covana Contents, which was run by Kim Keon-hee, and handled office design and construction. Last month, the special counsel secured related materials from Yoon's National Assembly office and from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.