58 Indicted, but 65% Arrest Warrants Dismissed and Cases Left Unresolved

[Anchor]

The 2nd comprehensive independent counsel team, which has been investigating remaining suspicions following the three major special investigations, has wrapped up its six-month probe. While a total of 58 people have been handed over to trial, the dismissal rate for arrest warrants reached 65% during the investigation, and key cases were passed over to the police without reaching conclusions, drawing growing criticism over a lack of investigative capability.

Reporter Shin Yong-il has the details.

[Reporter]

Wrapping up its six-month investigation, the comprehensive independent counsel team has indicted a total of 58 people, including former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife.

[Kwon Chang-young / Comprehensive Independent Counsel Team: If (the comprehensive independent counsel team's investigation results) can even slightly quench the public's burning thirst to protect the constitutional order and their longing for justice, I will consider it a great honor.]

Uncovering certain suspicions that the previous three independent counsel teams failed to resolve is an achievement.

Regarding suspicions surrounding the relocation of the presidential residence, former Presidential Chief of Staff Kim Dae-ki and former Board of Audit and Inspection Secretary-General Yoo Byung-ho were indicted and detained.

Kim Tae-hyo, former 1st Deputy Director of the National Security Office—who transmitted the logic for "justifying martial law" to a friendly nation at the instruction of former President Yoon Suk Yeol—was also detained and handed over to trial along with related individuals.

However, the investigation failed to secure statements regarding the so-called "Noh Sang-won notebook" suspicions, and failed to uncover the alleged involvement of former Minister Won Hee-ryong, who had been pointed to as the "higher-up" in the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway suspicions.

Regarding suspicions of interference in the Ssangbangwool illegal remittance to North Korea, which had been heralded as a massive state-affairs-rigging scandal with a sweeping investigation, the court put the brakes on it, stating that it "fell outside the scope of the independent counsel's investigation."

[Kwon Chang-young / Comprehensive Independent Counsel Team: We had our warrants dismissed twice by the court. It is unfortunate, but we inevitably had no choice but to fold.]

The number of cases that failed to reach a conclusion and were handed back over to the police amounts to 46.

The team investigated for 180 days—extending twice for 30 days and changing the law to extend once more—with 251 dispatched personnel alone.

Despite being such a massive independent counsel operation, it ultimately failed to clarify most of the remaining suspicions from the previous three independent investigations.

The arrest warrant dismissal rate reached 64%, with the court mostly determining that explanations of the charges were insufficient.

This is why criticism regarding a lack of investigative capability is difficult to avoid.

Concerns are also rising that proving the charges will not be easy, as most of the nearly 40 defendants who were mass-indicted toward the end of the investigation completely deny the charges, and the team plans to separately hire dedicated trial attorneys to maintain the indictments moving forward.

(Photo: Yonhap News) (Video Reporting: Yang Hyun-chul, Video Editing: Kim Jong-tae, Design: Lee Jae-jun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.