The second consolidated special counsel team led by Kwon Chang-young, which is investigating allegations related to the Dec. 3 martial law, on the 22nd summoned Hong Jang-won, former first Vice Administrator of the National Intelligence Service, for the third time and questioned him for nearly 10 hours.
The special counsel team around 10 a.m. that day summoned the former Vice Administrator as a suspect on charges of engaging in important duties in an insurrection, checking his movements before and after the martial law declaration and the internal decision-making process at the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
The former Vice Administrator is suspected of contacting a U.S. intelligence agency after former President Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law and trying to deliver a message intended to justify the measure.
The special counsel team said that during its questioning of NIS officials, it detected indications that the agency received from the Office of National Security on the morning after the martial law declaration a request to "explain to allied countries the background of the martial law," along with a document in Korean.
According to the special counsel team's findings, on orders from former Director Cho Tae-yong of the National Intelligence Service, the overseas bureau under the first Vice Administrator called in the chief of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Korea to the NIS to explain the purpose of the document. The special counsel team believes the former Vice Administrator received a report on this process and approved it.
The former Vice Administrator's side says the situation is not remembered and, even if it did happen, it was not in a formal reporting format.
The special counsel team is also looking into whether, on the day martial law was declared, the former Vice Administrator convened a meeting of department heads under the first Vice Administrator to order the establishment of a liaison system with the Counterintelligence Command and discussed support for the Joint Investigation Headquarters of the Martial Law Command.
It is reported that during the NIS search and seizure, the special counsel team found expressions suggesting involvement in martial law in items such as the work notebooks of employees who attended the meeting at the time. The former Vice Administrator dismissed this, saying, "Not even the first syllable of 'joint' in Joint Investigation Headquarters ever came up."
The special counsel team also summoned the former Vice Administrator as a suspect on the 22nd of last month and on the 11th of this month, questioning him for about nine hours each. The team plans to summon the former Vice Administrator for a fourth time on the 26th to wrap up questioning.
In connection with the "martial law justification message allegations," the special counsel team last month also questioned Kim Tae-hyo, former first Vice Administrator of the Office of National Security, twice as a suspect. The team is said to be considering seeking an arrest warrant for the former Vice Administrator Kim.
The special counsel team also summoned and questioned Kim Myung-su, former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), on the day. It was the first questioning since the court rejected an arrest warrant sought by the team on the 15th.
The former chair is suspected of participating in insurrection by, while at the JCS command-and-control center at the time of the Dec. 3, 2024, martial law declaration, watching as troops were deployed to the National Assembly and elsewhere without stopping it, and helping to organize the Martial Law Command.
The special counsel team suspects that the former chair, who had command authority, namely operational control, knew of the illegality of the martial law declaration and the process of deploying troops to the National Assembly but failed to take appropriate measures.
The former chair's side has fully denied the allegations, saying that upon the declaration of martial law, the Minister of the Ministry of National Defense directly commanded and controlled the martial law troops, and the chair was excluded from the decision-making process and thus was unable to exercise command authority over the martial law troops.
Appearing at the interrogation room that day, the former chair said, "As I have done so far, my philosophy and convictions remain unchanged, and I will explain myself according to the facts and the truth."