Opposition: "NIS Director Ordered Arrest of Left-Wing YouTuber"... NIS Denies

Park Sun-won "NIS Director Orders Special Inspection of Hong Jang-won"
NIS "No Special Inspection or YouTuber Arrest"

Cho Tae-yong, the head of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), is conducting a special inspection targeting former NIS First Deputy Director Hong Jang-won, who was replaced amid the emergency martial law situation, while allegations have been raised that he ordered the arrest of 'left-wing YouTubers.'

Cho Tae-yong, Director of the National Intelligence Service, is attending the National Assembly Intelligence Committee's audit of the National Intelligence Service held at the NIS in Naegok-dong, Seoul, on the 29th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

On the 12th, Park Seon-won, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated on "Kim Eo-jun's News Factory," "Yesterday (the 11th) between 5 and 6 p.m., a tip was received that the NIS chief ordered to 'thoroughly investigate even the smallest corruption of Hong Jang-won,'" adding, "He gave an order for a special inspection." He also added, "The tip did not come from someone inside the NIS," and said, "(The NIS chief) should not go after his strict subordinates again."

Former First Deputy Director Hong Jang-won revealed that during the emergency martial law, he directly received orders from President Yoon Seok-yeol to "arrest and clean up everyone," and that he was given a specific arrest list including major politicians from the Defense Counterintelligence Command. He claimed to have reported such orders to Director Cho Tae-yong at the National Assembly, but Director Cho denied it, leading to a truth dispute among the NIS leadership.

Park Seon-won also claimed that the tip included that Director Cho ordered investigations into left-wing YouTubers related to North Korea and instructed to arrest them if they were judged to have connections with North Korea. The tipster specified the timing of this order as the afternoon of the 11th, emphasizing that "an insurrection is underway."

The NIS completely denied the allegations. An NIS official rebutted, "It is absolutely not true that the NIS chief ordered a special inspection of former First Deputy Director Hong Jang-won or ordered the arrest and investigation of YouTubers connected to North Korea."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.