Special Counsel: NIS Directed Martial Law 'Contact Points'; Kim Keon-hee Questioning Set for July 22

The 2nd Comprehensive Special Counsel team, tasked with investigating remaining allegations following the three previous special counsel probes, announced that it has uncovered specific circumstances suggesting the National Intelligence Service (NIS) participated in the declaration of martial law.

During a regular briefing on July 20, Assistant Special Prosecutor Kim Ji-mi stated, "I will address the allegations regarding the NIS's involvement in the insurrection," and explained the details of the investigation.

According to the special counsel team, Hong Jang-won, former 1st Deputy Director of the NIS, instructed subordinate departments to "establish contact points with the Defense Counterintelligence Command" immediately after the emergency martial law was declared. The team also secured testimony that an NIS department head in charge of security "ordered the establishment of contact points with the National Police Agency."

The team also captured circumstances where Hwang Won-jin, former 2nd Deputy Director of the NIS, ordered subordinate departments to "dispatch investigators to the Martial Law Command's Joint Investigation Headquarters."

The special counsel team suspects that these directives constitute participation in an act of insurrection via the emergency martial law.

"We have identified circumstances where the NIS issued very specific orders to implement emergency martial law," said Assistant Prosecutor Kim. "We are currently verifying whether these orders were actually carried out."

The special counsel team is facing setbacks, with remaining summons and questioning schedules being canceled or postponed.

The team had notified People Power Party lawmakers Kim Gi-hyeon and Na Kyung-won to appear for questioning on this day regarding allegations of obstructing the arrest of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, but stated that both had submitted letters of excuse for their absence.

"We plan to decide whether to issue additional summons after reviewing the written responses submitted by the two," Kim explained.

The questioning of Kim Keon-hee as a suspect regarding the "presidential residence relocation scandal" has been postponed once again, from July 21 to July 22.

The special counsel team explained, "We accepted a request for postponement from Kim Keon-hee's side."

The team had originally planned to summon and question Kim on July 19, but the schedule was delayed once due to her health issues.

Regarding the failed questioning of former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun on July 19, the team stated, "We are negotiating a date for his appearance within this week, and if no agreement is reached, we will consider requesting an arrest warrant."

The special counsel team also announced that it has booked and questioned Hwang Yu-sung, former commander of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, as a suspect after uncovering circumstances that the command was involved in the handling of the death of Marine Corporal Chae.

Addressing criticism regarding a "lack of investigative capability" raised by the recent string of dismissed arrest warrants, Assistant Special Prosecutor Kim Ji-mi asked for understanding, noting that "this is a second special counsel."

"Requesting arrest warrants to secure evidence at the beginning of an investigation is different from requesting them while conducting a follow-up investigation that the first team could not complete," Kim said. "Personally, I think our situation (the 2nd special counsel) is much more difficult."

She also emphasized, "Some warrants were dismissed on the grounds that while criminal charges were substantiated, there were insufficient reasons for detention. I am aware that there are cases where we are considering re-requesting warrants if the investigation period is extended."

Previously, the special counsel team requested a revision to the Special Counsel Act from the National Assembly, which focuses on extending the investigation deadline and increasing the number of dispatched personnel.

The main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea, accepted this and proposed the revision to the Special Counsel Act, which was submitted to the plenary session of the National Assembly on the afternoon of July 20.

The ruling party is opposing the bill's passage and has filed for a filibuster (a legal obstruction of parliamentary proceedings through unlimited debate).

If the amendment is passed, the investigation period for the Comprehensive Special Counsel will be extended from 150 days to 180 days.

The number of dispatchable public officials will increase from 130 to 150, bringing the maximum workforce to 271.

It is estimated that an additional 2.7 billion won will be required for the budget, bringing the total investment for the investigation period to approximately 12 billion won.

Compared to the three previous special counsel teams, the Comprehensive Special Counsel is the largest in terms of both personnel and budget.

Refuting criticism that the investigation results are lackluster despite mobilizing more budget and personnel than previous teams, she said, "Usually, when comparing the scale of personnel, one looks at the number of prosecutors, but we only have 14. It is questionable whether we can be considered overwhelming in terms of budget and scale."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.