[News UP] "Yoon, come to the investigation"...Kim Hong-il's Center for Jin Yong Speed

■ Host: Anchor Yoon Bori, anchor Cho Jin-hyuk
■ Starring: Attorney Seo Jeong-bin

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN News UP] when quoting.

[Anchor]
President Yoon Suk Yeol, who once refused to summon him, will receive a request for attendance from both the prosecution and police. President

Yoon is forming a team of lawyers representing former Korea Communications Commission Chairman Kim Hong-il. Let's look at the forced investigation of the incumbent president and how it will develop in the future with lawyer Seo Jeong-bin.

We told you earlier. Both the special edition and the cooperative edition notified the summons investigation of President Yoon. However, as the dates of attendance on the 18th and 21st are different, the suspect chooses where to be investigated.

[Jeongbin Seo]
That's right. From the moment the subject of the investigation was dualized, there were concerns that such a problem could arise in the future investigation process, but that seems to have become a reality. Of course, President Yoon's side is also interested in where he will be investigated later because he can choose where he will be investigated on the 18th and 21st.

[Anchor]
However, it is pointed out that if the investigative agency is making such an unusual double summons, there is a high possibility that there will be gaps in the investigation later, but some even say that it may not be adopted as evidence in a trial situation because it is not a legitimate investigation. Is that actually a possibility?

[Jeongbin Seo]
First of all, regarding the legality issue, which side still has the authority to investigate President Yoon's allegations? There are still talks about which jurisdiction it is, and if some are later indicted on trial when one side conducts an investigation and such jurisdiction is not recognized, all of the subsequent interrogation results are judged to be illegal evidence or prosecution can be a problem. That's why there are concerns about this.

This part is something to be seen in the future. On the other hand, regardless of such legality, there are opinions that if a dual investigation is conducted in this way, the investigation may become difficult in terms of its contents, and there will inevitably be a setback. In the case of President Yoon, the investigative agency considers him as a charge of rebellion and could be the final destination of the investigation. If the investigation by one side of the investigative agency is not cooperating properly, there may be a problem in the content that it is difficult to find out whether President Yoon or others are suspected of the allegations at a time when those involved are being investigated in such a dispersed manner.

[Anchor]
President Yoon did not attend the prosecution's first summons notification because he was not ready to appoint a lawyer, but the lawyers are being interviewed by Kim Hong-il, the former chairman of the Korea Communications Commission. Shall we attend this time?

[Jeongbin Seo]
The purpose of the situation so far was to refuse to comply with the summons because the lawyers were not set up. In fact, they are also defenses that can be sufficiently present in criminal cases in general. Since lawyers are currently in place, I think they will eventually respond to the request for such a summons, and of course, it is hard for me to tell when that will be. However, I think we will eventually proceed with the procedures to respond to the summons. First, if you continue to refuse to comply with the summons in this way, execution by warrant can be defined as if it were to be talked about in the end. On the other hand, these aspects can affect the impeachment trial. For example, the fact that they continue not to respond to the investigation may eventually lead to criticism that they lack the will to defend the Constitution and the law, so I don't think the non-compliance will continue.

[Anchor]
Let's move on to the impeachment trial, but let me ask you what was in the breaking news a while ago. So the Constitutional Court asked the President of Yoon Suk Yeol to say that it was an answer to the impeachment trial, but what exactly is the answer?

[Jeongbin Seo]
You can think of it as a document containing opinions on this impeachment motion, that is, content to be refuted in the future. Of course, compared to civil lawsuits, in the case of civil lawsuits, if the defendant who received the claim does not submit an answer, it is eventually recognized as the claim of the plaintiff who made the claim. So the plaintiff will receive the prevailing judgment. In the case of an impeachment trial, it is not necessarily mandatory to submit an answer. Therefore, even if you do not submit an answer to this for a certain period of time, there is no big problem in continuing the impeachment trial.

[Anchor]
The applicants for the impeachment trial and the respondents were also prepared. Shall we take a look at the noodles?

[Jeongbin Seo]
First of all, if you look at the claimant's side, it is known that the impeachment committee was formed yesterday. Starting with Chung Chung-rae, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Choi Ki-ki of the Democratic Party, members of the Democratic Party, Park Eun-jung of the Cho Kuk Innovation Party, and Cheon Ha-ram of the New Reform Party were made up of members.

[Anchor]
Are they acting as prosecutors?

[Jeongbin Seo]
The impeachment trial will be conducted by acting as a prosecutor in the criminal trial, and on the other hand, President Yoon's side, that is, the respondent's side, is also forming a defense team. Currently, Kim Hong-il, former chairman of the Korea Communications Standards Commission, and Yoon Gap-geun, former head of the Daegu High Prosecutors' Office, are said to have been appointed as lawyers. It is also known that the advisory role includes Seok Dong-hyun, former secretary of the Democratic and Commonwealth Office, who is said to have been in President Yoon's 40 years.

[Anchor]
And Judge Jeong Hyeong-sik will be the chief judge of the impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court. There is a controversy over this. We've already pointed it out.Ma is controversial in that Judge Jeong Hyeong-sik is a person directly appointed by President Yoon Suk Yeol and has a relative relationship with the recently appointed person, is this a reason to avoid the judge?

[Jeongbin Seo]
In the case of an impeachment trial, an application for challenge against the judge may also be filed. So if it is difficult to expect a fair judgment, you can apply for a challenge. More specifically, the Constitutional Court admits that it is reasonable to suspect that unfair judgment will be made in light of ordinary people's judgment. If there are such concerns, the application for challenge is accepted, but the application for challenge is not recognized only by subjective suspicions. Therefore, it is still difficult to say that the fact that he is a judge appointed by President Yoon, or anything else, is a reason for avoidance in the current situation.

[Anchor]
I sometimes think that being a referee doesn't play a central role in the referee, but what role does the referee play?

[Jeongbin Seo]
If you think of it simply, you can think of it as acting as a moderator. In the impeachment trial, all participating judges exchange opinions and decide equally, so it is not a matter of judging the content of whether or not it is a chief judge. As a referee, if the judgment on whether to prosecute the impeachment is decided later, it will also play the role of drafting a ruling on it, but there is no special difference in terms of content, whether it is a referee or other judge.

[Anchor]
Let's quickly point out the investigation. Now, an all-round investigation into the military command is proceeding rapidly. Those who have been secured so far, could you please summarize the investigation situation?

[Jeongbin Seo]
Many officials are in custody or have been requested for arrest warrants. So far, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, Yeo In-hyeong, commander of the Defense Security Command, Lee Joon-woo, commander of the Capital Defense Command, and Kwak Jong-geun, commander of the Army Special Defense Command, have all been arrested by the prosecution at the request of a warrant, and in the case of Police Commissioner Jo Ji-ho and Seoul Police Commissioner Kim Bong-sik, the police have arrested and secured recruits.

[Anchor]
Yeo In-hyeong, the head of the counterintelligence command, was arrested for the first time yesterday. It's important when you started preparing martial law. I heard that I've been looking into it since this summer.

[Jeongbin Seo]
According to the prosecution's announcement, in the case of Commander Yeo, it has been announced that he has looked into allegations of fraudulent elections since this summer. Therefore, it is known that the chief of staff was instructed to organize the NEC, SNS-related data, and related claims of YouTubers at the time, and the chief of staff reported that such claims were difficult to realize. So, regarding when they prepared martial law and whether there was any consideration for it, the prosecution announced that it seems that they have looked into this since the summer, based on the statements that have been released.

[Anchor]
On the other hand, it is known that the candidates for constitutional judges recommended by the National Assembly have consistently stated that there is no evidence of such allegations of fraudulent elections. If it is the opinion of the majority of judges, wouldn't one of the grounds for emergency martial law that President Yoon Suk Yeol is now claiming be the suspicion of fraudulent elections? Isn't it possible that this part of
could be rejected by the judges?

[Jeongbin Seo]
That's right. For now, it is a simple opinion on this part, so it remains to be seen whether or not to judge specifically in the future trial process, but as you said, given the current positions of the Constitutional Court candidates, there is a good possibility that these arguments will be rejected. This is expected to be one of the important issues in the impeachment trial in the future, as President Yoon announced in a public statement that there were suspicions about fraudulent elections in declaring martial law. In the end, from the current candidates' point of view, these claims seem likely to be rejected, but I think it will be up to the judges to decide again depending on what kind of data President Yoon presents and how he pleads.

[Anchor]
The opposition party plans to appoint these candidates 27 days before the first interrogation date. In order to appoint it, the only way is to appoint it is by the acting authority. Is there any problem with the procedure?

[Jeongbin Seo]
I don't think there's any problem with the procedure. There is also controversy over whether Prime Minister Han Deok-soo, acting as the president, can exercise such authority, and most people believe that he can exercise his authority to the extent of maintaining the status quo. Given that the majority of opinions believe that the nomination of constitutional judges recommended by the National Assembly can go through the process of appointing them as constitutional judges recommended by the National Assembly and that they can exercise their authority on this, it is also possible to appoint candidates for the National Assembly's recommendation.

[Anchor]
Let me ask you this, too. There seems to be a bigger debate about the right to veto the bill that has been posted, and that acting Han Deok-soo is now using the right to veto it. What do you think of this part?

[Jeongbin Seo]
I think this is a difficult part to judge. In fact, then, as I said earlier, there is a question of the extent to which you can act as an acting authority, that is, how far you will see the scope of maintaining the status quo. Legislation that is coming up now, there are bills that already include the veto of President Yoon once in the past. There will certainly be controversy over whether it is right to pass or not. In the past, when Prime Minister Goh Kun was acting as an acting president, he actually vetoed some bills. In light of these things, I think this is something that Prime Minister Han can think about, and I think it's something that can even exercise veto power in the future.

[Anchor]
At the same time, several investigative agencies are investigating at the same time, so there is a saying that traffic should be organized. The ruling party says that we should continue to go as an independent counsel, but what will happen to the future investigation if the prosecution or the joint investigation agency indicts President Yoon before the independent counsel is launched?

[Jeongbin Seo]
Then, once charged, even if an investigation has been conducted by another investigative agency for prosecution, it will not be possible to prosecute this part repeatedly. Therefore, it can be considered that other agencies cannot prosecute. Of course, the materials that have been investigated so far can be submitted as additional evidence in cooperation with the prosecution or the other party that has been prosecuted.

[Anchor]
What the people are most curious about is that words are so difficult. There are a general special prosecutor, a permanent special prosecutor, a collaborative copy, and there are a lot of prosecutors and police. So, the Democratic Party of Korea is embarking on forming a general and permanent special prosecution at the same time, but will traffic be cleared when the special prosecution begins anyway?

[Jeongbin Seo]
There is a good chance that it will happen. In the end, in the case of the special prosecutor, they can request that the investigation-related cases be transferred even for the investigations that are already underway, so if possible, they can organize them into one. The problem is that even if such an independent counsel is passed, it could take another month or more before the independent counsel is actually conducted and launched. In the meantime, even if some of the people involved are prosecuted or all of them are prosecuted, the timing may be quite important because there may be a situation that becomes meaningless.

[Anchor]
In the midst of this, Police Commissioner Jo Ji-ho requested bail for health reasons. It is reported that he is fighting blood cancer. But why did you ask for bail, not suspension of arrest?

[Jeongbin Seo]
In the case of suspension of execution of arrest, there is no right of the suspect or the accused to claim. This is a judgment made by the court ex officio, and it is nothing more than a request for the invocation of authority when the suspect or the accused applies. Therefore, even if it is dismissed, there is no procedure to object to this. Jewel, on the other hand, is a pre-indictment bail here. In the case of these procedures, the suspect has the right to claim and, even if rejected, there are ways to object. That's why, at this stage in general, it's common to claim bail before prosecution, as in other cases.

[Anchor]
Commissioner Jo Ji-ho's health is known to be very bad, so can we investigate him later while hospitalized?

[Jeongbin Seo]
If your health condition recovers from hospitalization to a state that can be stated, there are no special restrictions on the location of the investigation, so for example, it is possible for investigators to go to the hospital and conduct an investigation.

[Anchor]
I'll also look into former Minister Kim Yong-hyun. Former Minister Kim Yong-hyun is now known to be in the Eastern Detention Center, where the prosecution reported the prosecutor general to the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit, saying that the prosecution attempted a forced inch. I think this could be seen as the defense strategy of the newly replaced lawyer, what do you think?

[Jeongbin Seo]
Given the lawyer's strategy now, this argument itself does not seem so meaningful. In fact, since the warrant has already been issued, the prosecution may be able to hold an inch for an investigation, and of course, it should not go beyond that to some extent, but since former Minister Kim was not forcibly summoned to the prosecution, the lawyer's argument is expected to point out procedural issues one by one in the future investigation process rather than putting meaning on itself, and I think it is a paving stone to argue the illegality of the overall investigation process in the trial when it is eventually indicted later.

[Anchor]
Let's stop here. So far, I've been with lawyer Seo Jeong-bin. Thank you for talking today.