Yoon's Dec. 3 insurrection 'did not end' until Dec. 14, special prosecutor says in charging ex-KTV chief

The second comprehensive special prosecutor's team — tasked with investigating allegations left unresolved after three earlier special counsel probes into insurrection, Kim Keon Hee and the Marine corporal case — has indicted Lee Eun-woo, former head of the Korea Policy Broadcasting Institute (KTV), without detention on charges of insurrection propaganda. Prosecutors allege he used his position to spread information justifying the insurrection during the 10 days following the Dec. 3, 2024, emergency martial law declaration.

The team, led by Special Prosecutor Kwon Chang-young, announced Tuesday it had indicted Lee without detention on the insurrection propaganda charge.

According to the special prosecutor's team, Lee used his authority over news bulletins and scroll-news broadcasts on the public channel to repeatedly and intensively disseminate information justifying the emergency martial law declaration, its proclamations and other acts of insurrection between Dec. 3 and Dec. 13, 2024. He is also accused of selectively blocking and deleting information critical of or aimed at stopping the insurrection, thereby propagandizing the insurrection to an unspecified number of viewers.

The team determined that the insurrection did not end when the National Assembly passed a resolution lifting martial law on Dec. 4, 2024, but rather on Dec. 14, 2024, when the Assembly passed an impeachment motion against former President Yoon Suk Yeol, suspending him from his duties. On that basis, prosecutors concluded the insurrection propaganda charge could be applied to Lee's conduct.

"We noted that former President Yoon's insurrection was a 'top-down insurrection,' distinct from the 'bottom-up insurrection' carried out by former President Chun Doo-hwan's forces, and that insurrection is a purpose-driven crime," the team said. "We concluded that the crime, which began with the declaration of emergency martial law, ended when the perpetrators either voluntarily abandoned their objective or were objectively prevented from achieving it."

The team sought an arrest warrant for Lee in May — the first warrant application it filed. Judge Lee Jong-rok of the Seoul Central District Court, who oversees warrant reviews, rejected it, saying there was "room for dispute over whether the crime of insurrection incitement is established" and that it was difficult to conclude Lee posed a flight risk or was likely to destroy evidence given the progress of related proceedings.

Lee had already been indicted on a separate charge of abuse of authority for ordering a subordinate on Dec. 4, 2024, to delete news coverage critical of the Dec. 3 emergency martial law declaration. A first-instance court found him guilty in June and sentenced him to one year in prison, suspended for two years. Both the insurrection special prosecutor's office, led by Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-seok, and Lee have filed appeals.

The special prosecutor's team, which launched in February, is set to conclude its work on Aug. 23 after operating for a base period of 90 days plus two 30-day extensions and an additional month granted through a legislative amendment. At a regular briefing held Monday, the team said it plans to indict individuals connected to allegations of the National Intelligence Service's involvement in the insurrection later this week.

The team will announce its final investigation results on Aug. 24.