Kwon Chang-young's second comprehensive special counsel team notified former President Yoon Suk-yeol to appear as a suspect on the 26th for questioning. The move is to examine the circumstances under which the former president instructed the Office of National Security to convey to the United States the legitimacy of emergency martial law.
According to legal sources on the 14th, the special counsel team notified the former president of a summons on charges of abuse of authority. After the declaration of martial law, he is accused of having messages such as "This measure is to safeguard liberal democracy" and "a counter to pro–North Korea leftists and anti-Americanism" conveyed to the United States through employees of the Office of National Security.
The special counsel believes the former president ordered Office of National Security staff to perform duties not required of them, including directing them to send messages that differed from objective facts. The former president has not yet decided whether to appear. Earlier, the special counsel team requested his appearance twice, but the former president did not comply. The former president was also convicted on the 29th of last month on charges of having foreign media informed of content justifying emergency martial law.
The special counsel team plans to question Kim Tae-hyo, former first Vice Administrator of the Office of National Security, as a suspect on the 15th. Kim is accused of directing, on the former president's orders, civil servants affiliated with the Office of National Security to deliver the messages. He was a key figure in the previous administration's foreign affairs and security line. He is currently a professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at Sungkyunkwan University.