Seoul: A special counsel team plans to question former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun next week over his alleged role in the botched martial law episode, judicial sources said Wednesday. Special prosecutor Cho Eun-suk's team will visit a detention facility in eastern Seoul, where Kim is being held in custody, at around 2 p.m. Monday to question him as a witness as part of an investigation into jailed former President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law declaration late last year, according to the sources familiar with the matter.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Cho's team is investigating charges of insurrection and other offenses stemming from the martial law fiasco. The special counsel is said to be planning to grill Kim over suspicions he informed former Interior Minister Lee Sang-min that the martial law decree would be imposed before Yoon announced such a decision at a Cabinet meeting on Dec. 3.
Last week, Lee was arrested on charges of aiding and abetting the martial law imposition by instructing the police and fire agency to cut off power and water to media outlets critical of the then administration. Kim was also arrested in December on charges of playing a key role in the martial law episode.
Meanwhile, another special counsel team investigating the alleged cover-up of the truth behind the death of a Marine officer in 2023 also plans to visit the Seoul detention center on Aug. 18 to question the former defense minister, according to the sources.