The second consolidated special counsel team led by Kwon Chang-young, which is currently investigating alleged ties to insurrection, summoned former President Yoon Suk-yeol for the second time on the 13th and questioned him for about nine hours.
According to the legal community and others, during the suspect interrogation that began around 10 a.m., the special counsel team pressed the former president on allegations of rebellion under the Military Criminal Act. The questioning, including the process of reviewing the record, continued until evening, and all schedules wrapped up at about 6:54 p.m.
After the questioning, the former president boarded a Ministry of Justice transport vehicle that had been on standby and was handed over to the Seoul Detention Center, a confinement facility. As with the first round of questioning, neither the former president's arrival nor departure was shown to the media.
The special counsel team is proceeding with the investigation on the view that the former president conspired with the military leadership, including former Minister of the Ministry of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun and former Army Chief of Staff Park An-su, to dispatch armed soldiers to the National Assembly and the National Election Commission to incite a riot that disrupted the constitutional order.
The special counsel team has determined that, although the crime of rebellion is a provision originally applied to those in military status, a civilian is also subject to punishment if they conspired with soldiers to commit the crime. If convicted, the charge of leading a rebellion carries only the death penalty under the statutory sentence, and it is expected to be a key factor that could increase the sentence if indicted.
Earlier, in the first trial on the charge of being the ringleader of an insurrection, the former president was sentenced to life imprisonment and the appeal is underway, and in the first trial on foreign exchange charges tied to the Pyongyang drone infiltration incident, a 30-year prison term was also imposed.
However, the former president was said to have flatly denied the allegations raised against him during the questioning. The former president's defense argued that acts such as deploying military personnel are already included in the facts of the insurrection charge currently on trial, and that investigating the same matter under a different charge violates the constitutional principle prohibiting double jeopardy and amounts to "double indictment."
Meanwhile, after finishing the suspect interrogation in the afternoon, the former president was additionally questioned as a reference in the foreign exchange case in connection with past allegations that he "attempted a Northern Wind operation." To clarify the allegations, the special counsel team in April completed obtaining materials from the Defense Intelligence Command through voluntary submission.
The special counsel team plans to summon the former president again soon for questioning over the "Hannam-dong official residence budget diversion allegations," among other matters. Along with this, a wide-ranging investigation aimed at the former president—the final destination—appears to be nearing its peak, including allegations that the probe into Deutsch Motors stock manipulation involving First Lady Kim Keon-hee was quashed and that the route of the Seoul–Yangpyeong Expressway was changed to grant favors.