Comprehensive special counsel zeroes in on 'safe house meeting' before wrapping up; insurrection probe had dismissed case

The second comprehensive special counsel team, led by Special Prosecutor Kwon Chang-young, is racing to complete its investigation into a gathering at the presidential safe house shortly after the Dec. 3 emergency martial law declaration, as the team's mandate nears its end. The Constitutional Court, in its ruling on the impeachment case against former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, found that the meeting alone was insufficient to establish his involvement in insurrection. A first-instance court trying Park on charges of performing an important role in insurrection, however, found that the meeting involved discussions on how to respond to the investigation into former President Yoon Suk Yeol. The insurrection special counsel, led by Special Prosecutor Jo Eun-seok, had earlier dismissed the matter without indictment.

According to legal sources Sunday, the special counsel team — which is investigating allegations left unresolved after the three earlier special counsel probes into insurrection, Kim Keon Hee and the Marine corporal's death — is looking into a gathering that took place the evening after Yoon declared emergency martial law on Dec. 3, 2024. The meeting was held at the presidential safe house in Samcheong-dong and was attended by former Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min, former Justice Minister Park, former Ministry of Government Legislation head Lee Wan-gyu and former presidential office civil affairs secretary Kim Ju-hyeon.

The special counsel team is examining whether the Dec. 4, 2024, ruling party-government-presidential office meeting and the subsequent safe house gathering involved discussions on how to justify the martial law declaration. The team announced Thursday that it had notified independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon to appear as a witness Wednesday, saying it wanted to hear his account of the safe house meeting, which he is believed to have attended. Han was then the leader of the People Power Party, the ruling party at the time.

The team plans to question Han about the circumstances of his attendance at the ruling party-government-presidential office meeting, what was discussed, and how that meeting connected to the safe house gathering. The team also summoned former Office for Government Policy Coordination chief Bang Ki-seon, who attended the ruling party-government-presidential office meeting, for questioning as a witness Thursday.

The investigation is unfolding in the context of the team's effort to push back the end date of the insurrection — from 4:30 a.m. on Dec. 4, 2024, when martial law was lifted, to Dec. 14 of that year, when the impeachment motion against Yoon passed and he was suspended from his duties. The team, which launched in February, has been reviewing ways to extend the insurrection's end date, since doing so would broaden the range of suspects who could face insurrection charges.

The first-instance court trying Park on insurrection charges sentenced him to 25 years in prison at a sentencing hearing in June. On the safe house meeting, the court found it "reasonable to conclude" that Yoon had directed Lee Sang-min and Kim Ju-hyeon to devise a response to the criminal investigation into the insurrection, leading the attendees to convene at the presidential safe house.

The Constitutional Court, however, reached a different conclusion earlier — ruling in April last year in Park's impeachment case that "the mere fact of having met at the presidential safe house after the lifting of emergency martial law cannot be taken as evidence of involvement in insurrection." The court dismissed the impeachment case against Park in a unanimous decision.

The insurrection special counsel had previously decided not to indict Park, Lee Sang-min, Lee Wan-gyu and Kim Ju-hyeon — all of whom had been referred for investigation on charges of aiding insurrection and destroying evidence in connection with the safe house meeting — dismissing the case without indictment late last year. Of the group, only Lee Wan-gyu was indicted in connection with the safe house meeting, on charges of perjury before the National Assembly.

Legal observers say proving the charges related to the meeting will not be straightforward.

"We need to examine whether the safe house meeting itself can be characterized as performing an important role in insurrection," one legal source said. "The first thing to establish is whether the insurrection ended on Dec. 14, and then it would need to be confirmed whether discussions at the safe house were aimed at continuing the insurrection or triggering another martial law declaration. It will not be easy to argue that efforts to block impeachment alone amount to performing an important role in insurrection."