Hong Jang-won, former first Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service, who is under suspicion of delivering messages to justify martial law, was summoned as a suspect by the consolidated special counsel on the 22nd and is under investigation.
According to legal sources, the consolidated special counsel called in former Vice Administrator Hong as a suspect on charges of engaging in important duties related to insurrection and is under investigation. Former Vice Administrator Hong is suspected of having the National Intelligence Service (NIS) contact U.S. intelligence agencies after former President Yoon Suk-yeol declared emergency martial law to deliver messages intended to justify martial law.
Appearing at the consolidated special counsel's office on the morning of the same day, former Vice Administrator Hong said, "I never received an order from former National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Cho Tae-yong to deliver a message," adding, "If you think about whether former Director Cho was in a position to give me such an order, you will understand."
The special counsel said it obtained "external explanatory materials" that explain the legitimacy of emergency martial law overseas during last month's search and seizure of the National Intelligence Service (NIS). It said it then questioned about 40 people related to the NIS and confirmed specific allegations.
In response, former Vice Administrator Hong said, "I can't tell what (the external explanatory document) is referring to because it's not specified," adding, "I was suddenly summoned and don't know the circumstances before and after, so I will go in and find out."
Former Vice Administrator Hong has given key testimony multiple times during the investigation and impeachment trial phase that gained momentum after emergency martial law. He appeared as a witness before the Constitutional Court and the National Assembly and revealed that immediately after the declaration of martial law, he received a phone call from former President Yoon Suk-yeol instructing the arrest of politicians. He also testified that he reported this instruction to former Director Cho but it was ignored, which played a decisive role in the insurrection special counsel indicting former Director Cho on charges including dereliction of duty.
Meanwhile, the consolidated special counsel also called in Lee Seung-oh, former operations chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), as a suspect on charges of engaging in important duties related to insurrection and is under investigation. The special counsel suspects that former JCS Chairman Kim Myung-soo and other JCS officials participated in the insurrection by forming a martial law command even after being briefed on the illegal situation of martial law forces being deployed to the National Assembly.