Former Defense Security Commander Hwang Yoo-sung and former Marine Corps Counterintelligence Unit Head Moon Yeon-chul, who are suspected of covering up the so-called "VIP outrage" rumors during the handling of the death of the late Corporal Chae Su-geun, have avoided arrest.

Today (August 12), Judge Lee Jong-rok, the senior judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, dismissed the arrest warrants requested by the 2nd Special Prosecutor Team led by Kwon Chang-young against former Commander Hwang after holding a pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant review hearing). The judge stated that "there is room for dispute over the criminal charges, and considering the course of the investigation, it is difficult to see that there is a risk of destroying evidence or fleeing."

The arrest warrant for former Unit Head Moon, which was requested alongside Hwang, was also dismissed for the same reasons.

They are suspected of being involved in the case handling process, such as blocking the collection of information related to the VIP outrage following Corporal Chae's death on July 20, 2023.

The "VIP outrage" refers to allegations that during a senior secretaries meeting at the presidential office on July 31 of the same year, former President Yoon became extremely angry and reprimanded officials after receiving a report regarding those responsible for Corporal Chae's death.

This is cited as the starting point of suspicions regarding external pressure on the investigation.

Former Commander Hwang commanded the Defense Security Command, a military intelligence agency, at the time of the incident, while former Unit Head Moon was dispatched to the Marine Corps Command to handle related information collection.

During the investigation by the special prosecutor team led by Lee Myung-hyun into the death of the Marine last year, it was revealed that former Commander Hwang had successive phone calls with former Defense Minister Jongseob Lee, former Presidential Office National Security Office Director Taeyong Cho, former 2nd Deputy Director of the National Security Office Lim Jong-deuk, and former Presidential Secretary for Public Discipline SIWON Lee following Corporal Chae's death, leading to him being questioned as a reference witness.

It has been reported that former Unit Head Moon had a conversation with former Marine Corps Commander Kim Gye-hwan at the time, stating, "Marine Corps Investigation Unit Commander Park Jung-hun knows about the VIP outrage fact and might expose it, so we must stop it."

A call recording was also uncovered in which Moon told former Commander Kim to the effect of, "I will conduct security education so that Marine Corps officers do not leak the VIP outrage."

Circumstances were also captured showing that former Commander Hwang and former Unit Head Moon called each other multiple times during the same period, and that Moon reported trends related to the Corporal Chae case to Hwang.

Based on this, the special prosecutor team investigated with the possibility in mind that the Defense Security Command was systematically involved in covering up the VIP outrage.

With the failure to secure the custody of the two individuals today, the related investigation may face setbacks.

As less than two weeks remain until the special prosecutor team's investigation period ends, the possibility of the special prosecutor team re-requesting warrants for them is also low.

The special prosecutor team's investigation deadline ends on the 23rd.

(Photo: Yonhap News)