Comprehensive Special Counsel to Summon Former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung on June 24 Over 'Insurrection' Allegations; Requests Second Extension of Investigation

The second comprehensive special counsel team led by Kwon Chang-young, which is investigating remaining allegations following the three previous special counsel probes, has notified former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung to appear for questioning regarding his alleged involvement in an insurrection.

Special Prosecutor Kim Ji-mi stated during a regular briefing today (June 22) that "former Prosecutor General Shim is scheduled to appear as a suspect on the morning of June 24 at 10:00 a.m. to be questioned on charges including performing important duties related to an insurrection."

Shim is suspected of reviewing the deployment of prosecutors to the Martial Law Joint Investigation Headquarters under the direction of former Minister of Justice Park Sung-jae on the day the martial law was declared.

After attending a Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Office on the day of the martial law declaration, former Minister Park returned to the Ministry of Justice and convened a meeting of senior officials.

It was previously alleged that during this meeting, attended by 10 officials including heads of offices and bureaus, Park instructed the Prosecution Service Bureau to "review the deployment of prosecutors to the Joint Investigation Headquarters."

It has been determined that former Minister Park had three phone conversations with Shim between 11:00 p.m. on December 3, 2024—the night the emergency martial law was declared—and the following morning.

This has fueled suspicions that Park may have also instructed Shim to deploy prosecutors to the Joint Investigation Headquarters.

Shim also faces charges of abuse of power related to allegations of covering up the investigation into First Lady Kim Keon-hee.

The allegations suggest that Shim was involved in the decision to clear the First Lady of charges without a proper investigation during the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office's handling of the "Deutsch Motors stock manipulation" and "Dior bag" cases.

The special counsel team confirmed that the Deutsch Motors investigation team had exchanged written responses with the First Lady's side but failed to include them in the investigation records. They are examining whether this amounted to a form of "written editing" to cover up the case against the First Lady.

The special counsel team has been reconstructing the decision-making process and reporting channels at the time by consecutively questioning officials from the investigation team, including former Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Chief Lee Chang-soo.

It is reported that during questioning, they stated there were no unjust orders regarding the handling of the case and that they processed it according to legal principles.

The special counsel team had notified former Prosecutor General Lee Won-seok, former Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Chief Song Gyeong-ho, and former Presidential Secretary for Personnel Lee Won-mo to appear as witnesses yesterday (June 21) regarding the "complete replacement of the investigation team" prior to the case's disposition, but it was found that no responses were received.

The special counsel team also stated that it had questioned officials from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport regarding the "Yangpyeong Expressway relocation allegations."

The team explained that they had captured circumstances where the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport distributed a press release claiming there were no legal issues, despite having received legal advice that the announcement to scrap the expressway relocation "could be in violation of the law."

On June 25, the team plans to question former Presidential Secretary for Civil Service Discipline Lee Si-won as a suspect regarding the case transferred from the Marine Corps special counsel.

The special counsel team also announced that it has requested a second extension of the investigation period from President Lee Jae-myung.

Under the Special Counsel Act, the investigation period can be extended twice for up to 30 days each, and the first extension is set to expire the day after tomorrow (June 24).

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