Final Hearing of the National Assembly Special Committee... Ruling Party: "Corruption Investigation Office, Warrant Shopping" vs Opposition: "Need to Investigate Bi-Hwa Phone"

Ruling and Opposition Parties Clash Over PCC 'Warrant Shopping' Allegations
Opposition Urges Investigation into Secret Phones Used During Martial Law Process
Final Report to Be Adopted on the 28th, Concluding Committee Activities

Odongwoon, Chief of the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Division, is taking the witness oath at the 5th hearing of the "Special Committee on the National Investigation into the Alleged Insurrection Charges through the Declaration of Martial Law by the Yoon Seok-yeol Government," held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 25th. Photo by Yonhap News

The National Assembly's 'Special Committee on the National Investigation into the Alleged Treason Charges through the Declaration of Martial Law by the Yoon Suk-yeol Administration (Special Committee)' held its 5th hearing on the 25th, engaging in a debate over the so-called 'warrant shopping' allegations against the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (PCC). The ruling party strongly criticized the investigation as inadequate, while the opposition defended it as legitimate.

On this day, Oh Dong-woon, head of the PCC, explained at the Special Committee hearing that the reason for requesting an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk-yeol at the Seoul Western District Court was that "according to Article 31 of the PCC Act, the jurisdictional court can be determined at the discretion of the PCC prosecutor," adding, "both the crime scene and the suspect's location were under the Western District Court."

Regarding suspicions that requesting a warrant from the Western District Court after the Seoul Central District Court dismissed the search warrant for President Yoon and others was 'warrant shopping,' he explained, "(The Central District Court) dismissed it on the grounds of duplicate investigation," and "there was no dismissal based on the issue of jurisdiction over treason investigations."

However, Park Joon-tae, a member of the People Power Party, criticized Oh, saying, "You investigated (President Yoon) for treason, which the PCC does not have authority over, and investigated the sitting president for abuse of power, which cannot be prosecuted during the president's term," pointing out, "This sets a precedent that all future presidents could be investigated."

The opposition party urged an investigation into the secret phones used during the martial law conspiracy process.

Yoon Geon-young, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, emphasized, "Former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun returned the secret phone on December 12 or 13, more than a week after his resignation," adding, "The Presidential Security Service currently holds the secret phone, so obtaining it would allow verification of calls among key personnel involved in the mission."

Park Seon-won, also from the Democratic Party, mentioned text messages exchanged between National Intelligence Service Director Cho Tae-yong and First Lady Kim Keon-hee regarding martial law, stating, "Since Mrs. Kim may have requested Director Cho to monitor Myung Tae-gyun during the martial law situation, the call records from the secret phone must be thoroughly investigated."

Besides Oh Dong-woon, the hearing was attended by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, Kim Tae-hyo, First Deputy Director of the National Security Office, and Lee Jin-dong, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.

President Yoon, former Minister Kim Yong-hyun, Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung, National Police Agency Commissioner Cho Ji-ho, Deputy Director of the Presidential Security Service Kim Seong-hoon, former Intelligence Command Commander Noh Sang-won, and Myung Tae-gyun submitted reasons for their absence.

The Special Committee, led by the opposition, resolved to issue summons orders for former Minister Kim and others who were absent. After concluding the hearing, the committee is reviewing the possibility of filing complaints against witnesses who failed to comply with the summons orders.

After concluding the final hearing on this day, the Special Committee plans to compile the investigation results and adopt an activity progress report on the 28th. Originally scheduled to conclude on the 13th, the committee's activities were extended once and will continue until the 28th.

Although the Special Committee has uncovered various suspicions surrounding the martial law situation through hearings, there are opinions that limitations remain due to the absence of key witnesses such as President Yoon, former Minister Kim, and former Commander Yeo.

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