Was 'Suhoshin TF' organized in advance for martial law? Special prosecutor probes Capital Defense Command officer

The second comprehensive special prosecutor team — led by Special Prosecutor Kwon Chang-young and tasked with investigating allegations left unresolved after three earlier special prosecutions into insurrection, Kim Keon Hee and the Marine Corps death case — suspects that the Suhoshin TF, a counterterrorism unit created within the Capital Defense Command, was organized specifically for the Dec. 3 emergency martial law declaration. The team is accelerating its investigation into former Capital Defense Command chief Lee Jin-woo while conducting witness interviews of those connected to the task force.

The special prosecutor team questioned Lieutenant Colonel A, a former member of the Capital Defense Command's military police unit, as a witness on Wednesday. The team plans to conduct additional witness interviews of others connected to the Suhoshin TF.

According to the special prosecutor team, Lee is suspected of ordering the creation of the Suhoshin TF within the Capital Defense Command in around February 2024 — months before the Dec. 3 emergency martial law declaration — under the pretext of establishing a counterterrorism unit. The team has booked Lee on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights.

In January last year, the Democratic Party of Korea's Yoon Suk Yeol Insurrection Investigation Panel said it had found indications that Lee had secretly organized the Suhoshin TF and made advance preparations to cut power to the National Assembly before the Dec. 3 martial law declaration. The panel said Lee had convened the commander of the 1st Security Brigade and the military police unit chief at the Yeouido substation — which supplies constant power to the National Assembly building — in October 2024, under the guise of a facility tour.

The special prosecutor team questions why the Suhoshin TF was created within the Capital Defense Command for counterterrorism purposes when the police already handle such duties. Investigators suspect the task force operated in secret and functioned in effect as an unofficial private organization with no internal structure — one built for martial law rather than any legitimate counterterrorism mission.

On the evening of Dec. 3, 2024 — the day emergency martial law was declared — Lee called then-1st Security Brigade commander Col. Jo Seong-hyeon at around 9:48 p.m. and told him: "It seems something is happening. Mobilize the Suhoshin TF and come to headquarters."

The special prosecutor team has demanded Lee appear for questioning multiple times, but Lee's side has refused to comply. The team is now reviewing whether to seek an arrest warrant for Lee. He was indicted in December 2024 on charges of playing a key role in the insurrection.

Investigators suspect former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun as the senior figure behind the Suhoshin TF's creation. Kim was serving as chief of the Presidential Security Service in February 2024, when the task force was established, and later took office as defense minister in September of that year. The special prosecutor team is expected to decide whether to additionally book Kim based on the outcome of its investigation into Lee.

The special prosecutor team has also booked Col. Jo on charges of playing a key role in the insurrection. Investigators suspect Jo participated in the insurrection by telling someone "Loyalty — I will continue the operation" during the martial law period and by his involvement with the Suhoshin TF. Jo is the officer who ordered his subordinate units not to cross Sogang Bridge during the martial law period — an order that became known as the "Sogang Bridge retreat" — and was later commended by the Ministry of National Defense for his actions.

Jo's side has maintained that he recognized the illegality of the situation when he received an order from Lee at around 12:43 a.m. on Dec. 4, 2024 — after martial law had been declared — to "drag out the Assembly members," and that he subsequently urged Lee to reconsider.

Jo's side has also stated that he did in fact issue the order to his subordinate units to retreat from Sogang Bridge, pushing back against the special prosecutor team's reported skepticism about whether such an order was ever given. The team questioned Jo as a suspect on two occasions — July 10 and Tuesday.