The National Police Agency's Special Investigation Headquarters for Handover Cases from the Three Special Counsels, which has been investigating cases transferred by the three special counsels, is concluding its activities of about eight months and transitioning into a dedicated investigation team system.

The special headquarters announced, "The special headquarters launched on December 1 of last year to investigate cases handed over by the special counsels regarding the deceased marine, the insurrection, and Kim Keon-hee will conclude its operations today."

The special headquarters marks the first instance where the police took over remaining cases from special counsels to conduct investigations.

Having started with a maximum scale of 109 personnel, its current headcount stands at 71.

After receiving a total of 192 cases from the three special counsels, the special headquarters consolidated duplicate cases and reclassified them into 137 cases.

Among them, a total of 121 cases have been concluded, including 16 transfers for prosecution, 54 transfers to other institutions such as the comprehensive special counsel, and 51 cases of non-prosecution or non-booking.

Kim Bo-jun, head of the special investigation headquarters, stated, "We received 192 cases involving significant public suspicion and closely reviewed over 90 percent of them. We have carried out our investigations with a profound sense of responsibility, and I am glad to see it successfully concluded."

During its operation period, the special headquarters questioned 46 suspects 62 times and 209 reference witnesses 220 times, while executing 16 search and seizure warrants.

Regarding the cases handed over by the insurrection special counsel, former Presidential Chief of Staff Chung Jin-suk, former Senior Secretary for General Affairs Yoon Jae-soon, and former First Presidential Secretary Kang Eui-goo, who were involved in resetting PCs at the presidential office and official residence following the December 3 emergency martial law, were sent to prosecutors on charges including abuse of authority and destruction of evidence.

Head Kim Bo-jun explained, "In addition to the PC resetting incident reported in the media, we newly uncovered and recognized the part where former Senior Secretary for General Affairs Yoon Jae-soon and former First Presidential Secretary Kang Eui-goo reset the PCs they used at the presidential official residence in December 2024."

The special headquarters also referred Shin Yong-hae, former head of the Correctional Headquarters at the Ministry of Justice, to prosecutors on charges of involvement in important insurrection missions for ordering the securing of detention space for "martial law decree violators."

This marks the first judicial processing of a high-ranking official other than military and police personnel involved in the emergency martial law, regarding the "order to secure correctional facility detention space" revealed during the trial of former Minister of Justice Park Sung-jae.

Regarding the cases handed over by the Kim Keon-hee special counsel, concerning suspicions of leaking the People Power Party member roster during the by-election for the National Assembly's Seocho-gu 갑 constituency in the 21st National Assembly, lawmaker Cho Eun-hee of the People Power Party was referred to prosecutors on charges of violating the Personal Information Protection Act and the Political Funds Act, and Myung Tae-kyun was referred on charges of violating the Personal Information Protection Act.

Furthermore, re-investigating the "Jeodo party on a ship" suspicion, which was deemed to have unclear substance during the special counsel phase, the special headquarters confirmed circumstances of the presidential security service leadership using military assets for private purposes, and referred then-Security Service Chief Kim Yong-hyun and then-Planning and Coordination Office Chief Kim Sung-hoon to prosecutors on charges of abuse of authority under the Presidential Security Act.

Regarding the cases handed over from the deceased marine special counsel, former Standing Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission Kim Yong-won was sent to prosecutors on charges of attempted coercion, and Lee Jong-ho, known as an aide to Kim Keon-hee, was referred on charges including fraud and violation of the Attorney-at-Law Act.

When asked whether former President Yoon Suk Yeol and Kim Keon-hee were directly questioned, Head Kim replied, "We could not conduct actual investigations due to refusals to cooperate, and instead investigated based on existing investigation records and witness statements."

The remaining cases total 16, and a dedicated 23-member investigation team under the National Police Agency's Investigation Bureau will take charge of cases requiring focused investigation, such as the Uiwang-si Moomin Valley case.

The dedicated investigation team will be led by Senior Superintendent Kang Il-gu.

Other cases, such as the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission case, are scheduled to be concluded by the National Police Agency's Security Investigation Corps, where many of the assigned investigators belong.

The police explained, "A significant portion of the 16 remaining cases require time to proceed, such as waiting for related trial results, and the dedicated investigation team and Security Investigation Corps will continue the investigations."

The police plan to disband the dedicated investigation team as well once the investigations into the remaining key cases are completed.

(Photo: Yonhap News)