Special prosecutor summons ex-Joint Chiefs chairman for third questioning ahead of indictment

By Choi Eui-jong, The Herald Business

The second comprehensive special prosecutor's team — led by Special Prosecutor Kwon Chang-young and tasked with investigating allegations left unresolved after three earlier special counsels covering insurrection, Kim Keon Hee and the Marine Corps — summoned former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Kim Myung-soo on Tuesday for a third round of questioning over his alleged involvement in the Dec. 3, 2024, emergency martial law declaration. After the supplementary session, the team is expected to indict Kim without detention alongside detained Joint Chiefs officials, including former Vice Chairman Jeong Jin-pal, who are set to be formally charged this week.

The special prosecutor's team called Kim to its Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province office at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday for the third suspect interrogation on charges including participation in key insurrection duties. Kim had previously appeared for a first round of questioning on June 27 and a second session on June 22.

The team is reviewing a plan to indict former Vice Chairman Jeong Jin-pal, former Joint Chiefs combat readiness inspection deputy chief Lee Jae-sik and former Army headquarters policy bureau chief Kim Heung-jun — all taken into custody on June 15 — this week, while simultaneously referring Kim to trial without detention. Tuesday's session is likely to be the final questioning of Kim before his indictment, with investigators aiming to shore up the charges beforehand.

According to the special prosecutor's team, Kim is suspected of having held military command authority over the Special Warfare Command and the Capital Defense Command during the Dec. 3, 2024, emergency martial law, giving him both the power and the duty to stop the unlawful deployment of troops — authority he allegedly failed to exercise.

Investigators believe Kim instead signed a "fragmentary order" containing language directing the two units to prioritize missions under the martial law command, effectively ordering them to carry out their roles as martial law forces and thereby aiding the operation to seize control of the National Assembly.

The special prosecutor's team, which launched in February, designated the Joint Chiefs' alleged involvement in the martial law as its first self-initiated case. On June 9, it sought arrest warrants for Kim, Jeong, Lee and Kim Heung-jun on charges of participating in key insurrection duties. On June 15, three of them — Jeong and two others — were detained, but the attempt to secure custody of Kim failed.

Kim's legal team maintains that then-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun personally commanded and controlled the martial law forces after the declaration, and that the chairman was excluded from the decision-making process and was in effect unable to exercise command authority over the martial law troops. That argument was also emphasized during the warrant review hearing.

The special prosecutor's team obtained a statement from former Joint Chiefs operations chief Lee Seung-oh, who said Kim had reviewed a draft of the fragmentary order and instructed that martial law duties be given priority. Kim's side denies that any such instruction was given. The team has said it intends to resolve the conflicting accounts among Joint Chiefs officials before referring the case to trial.

The special prosecutor's team, which had its mandate extended once before, received a further extension approved by President Lee Jae Myung on Monday and is now authorized to operate through July 24. Special Prosecutor Kwon said in an internal statement in May that "indictments will inevitably be concentrated in the latter half of the investigation period in order to make efficient use of limited personnel — a back-loaded approach."

The team has also booked former President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges of obstruction of rights through abuse of authority, and former National Security Office chief Shin Won-sik and former first deputy chief Kim Tae-hyo on charges of participating in key insurrection duties, over allegations that the National Security Office coordinated with the National Intelligence Service and others to transmit messages to allied nations justifying the martial law declaration. The team is said to be deliberating whether to seek arrest warrants for Shin and Kim Tae-hyo.

The team has also booked former NIS First Deputy Director Hong Jang-won on charges including participation in key insurrection duties in connection with the same martial law justification messaging allegations. Hong disclosed a list of politicians targeted for arrest following the martial law declaration. The team has questioned him as a suspect on four separate occasions.