Prosecutors Investigate National Intelligence Service Director Cho Tae-yong for Attending Cabinet Meeting Before Martial Law Declaration

Cho Tae-yong, Director of the National Intelligence Service, Investigated as a Witness

Cho Tae-yong, Director of the National Intelligence Service, is drinking water while 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

The prosecution investigating the ‘12·3 Emergency Martial Law Incident’ recently conducted a private interrogation of Cho Tae-yong, the Director of the National Intelligence Service.

According to the legal community on the 22nd, the prosecution recently summoned Director Cho as a witness for questioning. Although Cho is not a cabinet member, it is known that he attended the Cabinet meeting held on the 3rd, before the declaration of martial law.

The prosecution is consecutively summoning and investigating government minister-level officials. Recently, they also requested the attendance of Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, and Park Sang-woo, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

The prosecution is reported to have questioned Director Cho about whether he received any reports from Hong Jang-won, former 1st Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service, regarding President Yoon Seok-youl’s orders to arrest politicians and others during the martial law period.

Former Deputy Director Hong claimed that immediately after the martial law was declared, he received a phone call from President Yoon saying, “Take this opportunity to arrest and clean up everyone,” and when he reported this to Director Cho, Cho responded, “Let’s talk about it tomorrow morning.”

In response, the National Intelligence Service issued a public statement to the media denying the claim, stating, “Former Deputy Director Hong asserts that he reported the ‘order to arrest politicians and others’ to the Director of the National Intelligence Service, but this is completely untrue.”

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