[Anchor]

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

First, we have a report by reporter Shin Yong-il.

[Reporter]

Concluding 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: If the results of the comprehensive independent counsel team's investigation can even slightly quench the public's burning thirst for the protection of constitutional order and their craving for justice, I will consider it a great honor.]

Uncovering certain suspicions that the previous three major independent counsel investigations failed to resolve is seen as 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 conveyed the logic of "justifying martial law" to friendly nations at the instruction of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, was also detained and related individuals were sent to trial.

However, testimonies could not be secured regarding the so-called "Noh Sang-won notebook" suspicions, and the suspicion involving former Minister Won Hee-ryong, pointed to as the "higher-up" in the Seoul-Yangpyeong Expressway controversy, was not clarified.

Regarding suspicions of interference in the investigation of Ssangbangwool's illegal remittances to North Korea—which had been heralded as a massive national scandal with a large-scale 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: We had our warrants dismissed twice by the court. It is regrettable, but we had no choice but to drop it.]

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

The investigation lasted 180 days, extended twice for 30 days and once more through a legal amendment, with a dispatched staff of 251.

Despite being a mega-sized independent counsel probe, it ultimately failed to clarify most of the remaining suspicions from the previous three independent counsel teams.

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

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

Concerns are also being raised that proving the charges will not be easy, as most of the nearly 40 defendants mass-indicted near the end of the investigation completely deny the charges, and the team plans to separately hire lawyers dedicated to trials to maintain the prosecution.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Video by Yang Hyun-chul | Video Editing by Kim Jong-tae | Graphics by Lee Jae-jun)