The 2nd Comprehensive Special Counsel Team, led by Kwon Chang-young, has notified independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon to appear for questioning.

The special counsel team announced through a media notice today (Aug. 6) that "Lawmaker Han has been asked to appear as a reference witness at 10:00 a.m. on the 12th."

The team explained that it plans to question Han regarding the circumstances of his attendance at the party-government-office meeting held on the afternoon of December 4, 2024, the contents discussed at the time, and its connection to the subsequent safehouse meeting.

The special counsel team suspects that justifications for the emergency martial law were developed during both the party-government-office meeting and the evening safehouse meeting in Samcheong-dong.

Han attended the party-government-office meeting at the time in his capacity as the leader of the People Power Party.

Later, attending an emergency general meeting of lawmakers at the National Assembly, he told reporters that "martial law cannot be something of a warning nature" and stated that he conveyed the demand for former President Yoon Suk Yeol's withdrawal from the party to then-Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and then-Chief of Staff Chung Jin-suk.

Previously, Criminal Settlement Division 33 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Jin-gwan), in sentencing former Minister of Justice Park Sung-jae to 25 years in prison, ruled that response plans for former President Yoon's impeachment prosecution and investigation were discussed at the party-government-office meeting on December 4, 2024.

The court pointed out that former Minister Park subsequently ordered then-Ministry of Justice Prosecutor's Office Division Director Lim Se-jin to draft a document justifying martial law, and that attendees of the safehouse meeting formulated a rationale regarding the justification and inevitability of the emergency martial law based on this document, reporting it to former President Yoon.

(Photo: Yonhap News)