After two special prosecutors, insurrection probe turns to new task force — putting fledgling SCIO to the test

The Serious Crime Investigation Office (SCIO) and the Korean National Police Agency are working to establish a special investigation task force for the insurrection case. The move would create yet another dedicated body to probe former President Yoon Suk Yeol's Dec. 3 emergency martial law declaration — following investigations by prosecutors, police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, and then two successive special counsel teams under the Lee Jae Myung administration. Critics say the SCIO, launched to handle serious crimes after the abolition of the prosecution service, is being put to the test on its investigative capabilities, independence and political neutrality before it has even found its footing.

The SCIO and the Korean National Police Agency have recently been in talks over the specific structure of the insurrection task force, according to legal sources Sunday. The two agencies are discussing co-leadership arrangements, organizational composition and the task force's location. Under a plan being considered, each agency would appoint its own chief — an unusual arrangement for a joint special body. On the police side, Senior Superintendent General Kang Il-gu, who heads the National Investigation Headquarters' dedicated team for cases transferred from the three special counsel probes, is seen as a likely co-chief. On the SCIO side, a director-level official with a prosecutorial background at one of the regional SCIO offices is considered a strong candidate.

The insurrection investigation ran for more than a year and eight months — from immediately after the emergency martial law crisis in December 2024 through August, when the comprehensive special counsel team wrapped up its work. On Dec. 6 and Dec. 8, 2024, the prosecution's emergency martial law special investigation unit and the police's emergency martial law special investigation team were launched, respectively, and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials joined the probe, forming a joint investigation headquarters with police. Yoon was arrested and detained the following January, then indicted on charges of leading an insurrection.

The insurrection special counsel team established after the Lee administration took office conducted a six-month investigation and filed additional charges against Yoon and others, including general treason. But calls from the ruling camp and broader political circles that the special counsel's work was insufficient led to the launch in February of a so-called comprehensive special counsel — tasked with investigating remaining cases from the three major special counsel probes covering the insurrection, first lady Kim Keon Hee and the Marine Corps death case. That team also ran for six months and filed additional charges against Yoon for allegedly relaying messages justifying the martial law declaration to allied nations.

Even after investigations by existing agencies and two rounds of special counsel probes, calls for a dedicated task force on the insurrection case persisted. Kwon Chang-young, who led the comprehensive special counsel team, said at a final briefing in August that "the war against the insurrection forces has many pieces yet to be assembled — the comprehensive special counsel only put together the second puzzle." He added that the National Investigation Headquarters alone has its limits and called for a joint task force across investigative agencies to pursue the case "systematically and over the long term."

President Lee was subsequently reported in September to be reviewing a directive to form such a task force. After the prosecution service was abolished in early October and the SCIO and the new public prosecution office launched in its place, moves to build a task force centered on the SCIO — which falls under the Ministry of Interior and Safety — and the Korean National Police Agency began in earnest.

Among the cases expected to fall under the task force's purview are those the comprehensive special counsel team left unfinished. The most prominent is the so-called "Noh Sang-won notebook" case. The notebook, belonging to former Defense Intelligence Command chief Noh Sang-won, was seized from his mother's residence during the police emergency martial law investigation. It is said to contain details of martial law preparations — including plans for constitutional revision and the creation of an emergency legislative body — and has been described by some as a smoking gun.

The comprehensive special counsel team, which received the notebook case from the police task force handling transfers from the three special counsel probes, said it had found indications that the notebook contained plans to kill people using explosives and poison. The team also identified three locations on Yeonpyeong Island and in the Oeum-ri area — specific sites mentioned in the notebook — as suspected detention facilities and executed verification warrants there. The comprehensive special counsel ultimately could not conclude the investigation and returned the case to police.

Also cited as a potential target is the so-called "safe house meeting" involving former senior presidential secretary for civil affairs Kim Ju-hyeon and former Ministry of Government Legislation chief Lee Wan-gyu. The comprehensive special counsel suspected that Kim and four others gathered at a safe house in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, on Dec. 4, 2024 — the day after the martial law declaration — to discuss justifications for the martial law and reported their conclusions to Yoon, constituting participation in the insurrection. That case, too, was handed back to police when the special counsel team could not close it within its mandate.

Even as the task force takes shape, the SCIO — expected to be one of its pillars — finds itself on the line barely a month after its launch. The agency has yet to fully build out its personnel and infrastructure, and taking on a major investigation at this stage is seen as a test it was not prepared for. Observers say the agency's organizational consolidation will inevitably be delayed as a result.

Within the SCIO, staff from the Seoul office are expected to make up the bulk of the task force's contingent, though the agency is also considering drawing personnel from regional offices. The potential impact on those regional offices — themselves newly established — of sending large numbers of staff to the task force appears to be a factor in the deliberations.

For the SCIO, revisiting an insurrection investigation already criticized as politically motivated during the comprehensive special counsel phase presents an additional difficulty. The comprehensive special counsel indicted People Power Party lawmakers on charges of obstructing Yoon's arrest, and the court has repeatedly flagged problems with the indictment — including the statement of charges — as pretrial proceedings have gotten underway.

Another variable is the absence of prosecutors. Past special counsel teams received seconded prosecutors who handled warrant applications and maintained public prosecutions. But amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure eliminated prosecutors' investigative authority, meaning any prosecutor participating in the task force could face accusations of conducting unlawful investigations. There is also a practical shortage of prosecutors available to be seconded.

Against this backdrop, some observers have suggested the task force may have the Supreme Court in its sights. Park Seong-jun, chief spokesperson of the Democratic Party of Korea, said after a closed-door supreme council meeting Monday that "there are many unclear aspects of Chief Justice Jo Hee-de's whereabouts at the time of the martial law declaration." Both the insurrection special counsel and the comprehensive special counsel, however, investigated Jo and declined to indict him — drawing criticism that the matter has already been examined and resolved.