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[On-site video+] Woo Jong-soo, "Jo Ji-ho, confirming the destruction of martial law documents..."To be investigated"

2024.12.23 AM 11:26
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[Anchor]
The National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee held a general meeting and continues to ask questions about the situation of the "investigation of suspected rebellion" against the head of the National Investigation Headquarters.

There will also be questions about police action on farmers' "tractor protests."

Let's go to the National Assembly.

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
He reported to me that the counterintelligence practitioner requested preparation for the formation of the joint investigation headquarters. Separately, the situation around the National Assembly is confusing, so I asked for five or five police officers to report to the police chief for the purpose of guiding the scene, and I was reported that the 10 had already notified the counterintelligence agency. When I first saw the support of 100 personnel from the Joint Investigation Headquarters, I immediately asked for this support, and this is not a simple matter. Therefore, it is a matter that requires a strict review of laws and regulations, so take as much time as possible until I arrive in Seoul, in the morning. I have instructed them not to respond. And at the time of the call with the investigation planner, there were other business travelers next to me, and other directors in the National Assembly were next to the investigation planner, so they all know this. Next, the Director of the Investigation Planning Bureau will brief you.

[Director of Investigation Planning]
As I reported to Representative Han Byung-do a little while ago, the first time I was reported, I immediately reported two things to the Commissioner of the National Police Agency. The request for advance preparation for 100 people, which was reported at 11:49, did not mean that they should send it right away, but a joint investigation headquarters could be set up, and there was a report saying, "Please prepare in advance for that." Then, at 11:58 a.m., the situation in the National Assembly is not good, so please give me contact information about 5 volunteers to guide. Since time is very tight on these two things, I first reported them to the police chief, received the instructions, immediately called the general, and then came down at about 12:20 after the meeting and reported what happened to the head of the National Investigation Headquarters.

[Shin Jeong-hoon / Chairman of the Public Administration and Security Committee]
I think there will be questions continuously, so please refer to them and ask them.

Next, please ask your respected lawmaker Cho Eun-hee.

[Jo Eunhee / People's Power]
Before asking, I will ask the NEC for data and ask. A spokesman for the Central Election Commission went on MBC on the morning of the 20th and said, "We will improve the election law system." But that day, it's the ruling party secretary's office, our lawmaker's office. At 4 p.m. on the same day, without any comment, I emailed a post-mortem document about improving the system related to the spread of false information about the election and gave no explanation. I didn't even know that such emails came because my congressman's office keeps getting a lot of emails. It was found that there was no e-mail or explanation of the contents to our chairman Shin Jung-hoon's office and secretary Yoon Gun-young's office. So I think the NEC could be misunderstood. The e-mail notification to the ruling party secretary's office and certain opposition lawmakers was made by the election watchdog to meet its alibi to push for an anti-constitutional public gaggling bill contrary to Articles 19 and 21 of the Constitution. In addition, I think it is easy to be misunderstood that the anti-constitutional gag legislation was pursued in collusion with a specific member of the opposition party. That's why I ask for data. The National Election Commission's legal department requested a review of the bill, the time of sending e-mails to lawmakers of the ruling and opposition parties under the title of improving the system for spreading false information about the election, and what discussions were made in the process of preparing the bill and the contents of the bill. Was there any consensus in the public opinion? I request you to submit a time table with the captured copy of the email.

[Shin Jeong-hoon / Chairman of the Public Administration and Security Committee]
I hope you can ask me.

[Jo Eunhee / People's Power]
Let me ask the Secretary-General. It's a controversial banner double standard controversy. As you know, the power of the people, Jeong Yeon-wook OOO, is all over the country. The lawmaker said that the banner of an accomplice in rebellion is okay, and lawmaker Jeong Yeon-wook said three times that the banner of Lee Jae-myung should not be allowed. The reason is that the possibility of early presidential election has increased and representative Lee Jae-myung is recognized as a presidential candidate, which could be a pre-election campaign for the purpose of losing the election. Mr. President, is the NEC convinced of the early presidential election and the impeachment citation even though the impeachment trial hasn't begun yet?

[KIM YONG BIN / Secretary General of the Election Commission]
That's not true.

[Jo Eunhee / People's Power]
But why did this interpretation come out?

[KIM YONG BIN / Secretary General of the Election Commission]
If you give me some time, I'll...

[Cho Eun-hee / People's Power]
Please give me a brief explanation.

[KIM YONG BIN / Secretary General of the Election Commission]
There was a verbal question about whether the banner was in violation of the law in the lawmaker's office, and our questioning officer reviewed it, but I think it's too early to review the law and see it as a whole. Because before the impeachment vote, we allowed the placard "Jae Myung, let's go to prison" to be within the realm of freedom of political expression. Our standards have announced guidelines that they will be limited to the minimum only when it is explicitly prohibited by law in relation to conventional party banners. Rather than such a part such as a banner of such a political party, it seems that the answer to the question came out by judging only by the provisions of the Article 254 pre-election campaign. Given the gravity of this issue, we are meeting a committee this afternoon. So, as an emergency agenda, I will reveal to you the criteria for authoritative interpretation through a resolution of the committee.

[Jo Eunhee / People's Power]
But Lee Jaemyung can't do it. Is the oral answer from the NEC employee still valid that it should not be hung yet?

[KIM YONG BIN / Secretary General of the Election Commission]
Judging from various angles, I think the members will do well in the committee.

[Jo Eunhee / People's Power]
Is it valid for now? Can't I walk?

[KIM YONG BIN / Secretary General of the Election Commission]
No, this is an answer based on an oral question, and no action has been taken accordingly, and provisional action is now on hold.

[Jo Eunhee / People's Power]
So that means you've stopped taking that action.

[Kim Yongbin / Secretary-General of the Election Commission]
Yes.

[Jo Eunhee / People's Power]
Thank you. I'll ask you the next question.

It is known that the NEC will add a clause that will punish those who violate the Public Official Election Act, obstruct the election freedom, interfere with the normal performance of the Election Commission, or spread false information about early voting or voting through information and communication networks, rallies and protests with up to 10 years in prison and up to 30 million won in fines. This will effectively bring charges of distrust to the NEC. Don't have any doubts about the election commission voting practice, and it is good to be misunderstood as the election commission's self-sanctuary method. Then I'll ask you. Can't we criticize the recurrence of the Sokuri vote in the future?

[KIM YONG BIN / Secretary General of the Election Commission]
No,

[Cho Eun-hee / People's Power]
Then, does the NEC think that the president of Yoon Suk Yeol, who raised a problem with the election management system of the National Election Commission, or anyone who raises such a problem, wants to punish him for up to 10 years in prison if he or she comes out on social media or YouTube?

[Kim Yongbin]
That's not true.

[Jo Eunhee / People's Power]
Also, Rep. Na Kyung-won is criticized for suspected election fraud because of this, and if she goes out on social media or YouTube, will she be sentenced to less than 10 years in prison?

[Kim Yongbin]
If you give me some time to talk about that, I'll organize it and tell you.

[Jo Eunhee / People's Power]
Hurry up and tell me now. Mr. President, whose idea is this law amendment review?

[Kim Yongbin]
It is correct that I told you to proceed with the progress that has been made now. However, this case has been raised even before the fraudulent election theory, and we have taken legal action against it. However, legal action was taken in all areas such as obstruction of election freedom, obstruction of the execution of public affairs by hierarchy, and the Information and Communication Network Act, but the court or investigative agency decided not to charge all of them.

[Cho Eun-hee / People's Power]
Mr. President, if some people point out whether the NEC is properly managing it, they should push for such a law first. At this delicate time, wouldn't it be suspected that the NEC raised such a thing to influence the Constitutional Court's ruling on the impeachment?

[Kim Yongbin]
I agree with you now, and we have apologized to our internal committee several times for various unsavoury things and have prepared an improvement system. However, since the current situation itself is based on fraudulent elections, we were thinking that the NEC itself should improve the system because it is also responsible for this. Previously, the improvement of the system to cope with fraudulent electioneering was...

[Cho Eun-hee / People's Power]
You have to improve it before. Don't you think what you did at this point is misleading at this point in time?

[Kim Yongbin]
Since what we are doing is not something that we can pursue on our own, if a consensus has been formed with the members, the members will do it, and this issue is basically a punishment law that limits the people's freedom of speech and expression.

[Jo Eunhee / People's Power]
Mr. President, did you go on the air first without discussing anything with the ruling party secretary, the opposition secretary, and the chairman of the committee?

[Kim Yongbin]
Speaking of that, there was a question from opposition lawmakers during the recent questioning session. There was such a question about why the NEC's actions were insufficient against the election fraudists, so we are doing our best to respond to the election fraud, but I would like to tell you that there is a limit to the lack of current laws. Rather, I suggested that it would be better to regulate these parts that spread false information in this way and cause national confusion as criminal acts. At a time when the members expressing interest in it are asking us to discuss it together, we have been sidelined by the members who internally want the results we have studied in the past. So normally, if we push for opinions from the perspective of the Administration and Security Committee, of course, we would have gone through the process of explaining it to the chairman and the secretaries of both parties first. It's not such a situation, and we only shared the internal data we have on the Internet to the members who are interested in discussing this content. As I said, I only sent data to two of the opposition lawmakers online, and from our point of view, political neutrality is sensitive, so the people did not want it, but the secretary told me to send it to the committee members in order to inform them that the data on this part would be shared. And just because it's working right now... so I don't know what the spokesman was thinking when he said that. This is not the intention that we will actively do it now. And I also asked the committee members what they think about this in our opinion, and as I said earlier, this is a part that limits the people's freedom of speech and freedom of expression, so in-depth research is needed. So, in some cases, you have to listen to experts' opinions and then hold a public hearing to collect opinions as a whole to make criminal laws like this, and I think it is difficult to make legal provisions in a short period of time.

[Shin Jeong-hoon / Chairman of the Public Administration and Security Committee]
Please organize it.

[Kim Yongbin]
I just wanted this kind of discussion to be activated as soon as possible, as the part of the perspective is a critical phase.

[Shin Jeong-hoon / Chairman of the Public Administration and Security Committee]
Next, please ask questions from Commissioner Yoon Gun-young.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
I'll ask the head of the noodle department. If you don't have enough time to answer, I'll tell you at the end. Mr. Yoon Suk Yeol continues to refuse to subpoena. The Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit has notified us that he will be present by the 25th. What would the people say if there was a gap in this situation? You can only see that it's a favor. If you don't attend by the 25th, you'll ask for an arrest warrant, right?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
First of all, it is the judgment of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit that sent the request for attendance, but if we coordinate with the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit, we will actively express our intention.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
I express my active intention to request an arrest warrant, can I see it like this?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
Including that...

[Yoon Gun-young/Rep. of the Democratic Party of Korea]
Is the charge now applied to Mr. Yoon Suk Yeol guilty of rebellion?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
That's right.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
The prosecution confiscated the cell phones of the head of the headquarters and 10 executives in connection with the arrest team. In my view, this is a very serious problem. It has no choice but to be seen as an act of obstruction of investigation. Do you agree?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
From before and after the declaration of emergency martial law to the present...

[Yoon Gun-young/Rep. of the Democratic Party of Korea]
Do you agree briefly with the prosecution's actions?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
I think it's hard to understand.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
The police tried to arrest Kim Yong-hyun, but failed, and the prosecution tried to seize and search the counterintelligence agency, but failed because the prosecution did it first. It's seen as a kind of interception by the prosecution in advance. As a result, the police's initial investigation was partially insufficient. Why do you think the prosecution is doing this?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
I don't know. As you said, we were the first to issue a search warrant for Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun on the evening of December 7th and execute it the next day, but a few hours before that, Kim Yong-hyun voluntarily appeared at the prosecution.

[Yoon Gun-young/Rep. of the Democratic Party of Korea]
You're kind of intercepting it, aren't you?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
It is true that we were embarrassed and had difficulty in the initial investigation.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
Then, why was the warrant issued when the prosecution raided the general manager's cell phone? Have you seen the court's search warrant?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division] We saw
.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
What does it say?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
It was posted that the reason for issuing the warrant was to confirm the allegation of rebellion. However, it was different from ordinary warrants because the electronic information institution or content extracted by us from the mobile phone was not specifically specified. I was not provided with a copy of the warrant because I was a reference.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
It's not common for a search warrant to be requested from a reference person, is it?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
This is an unusual case.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
And it's unusual for the prosecution to do this to police officers, right?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
I believe so.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
All right. Regarding the arrest team, Kook Soo-bon explained to us that he only submitted the list of counterintelligence agents. Is it right?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
That's how I was reported.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
But this doesn't seem to be true. Ten employees from Yeongdeungpo were at the scene. Right? Then you didn't just submit the list. I think they were waiting on the spot.

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
What I was briefed on was not 10 people from Yeongdeungpo, but there was also a Yeongdeungpo manager here, and such ordinary multiple...

[Yoon Gun-young / Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker]
is not included. It has been confirmed that 10 of the people who came out to manage the multi-assembly were selected, given a list, and went to the hydrogen charging station where they were supposed to meet. So I have no doubt that the head of the noodle department was involved in that relationship, but it was wrong that only the list was submitted when explaining it to us. I was at the scene, but you didn't tell me that. Next, let's move on. Jo Ji-ho, did you secure a copy of the martial law document that Kim Bong-sik received?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
Failed to secure. Because I've already destroyed it.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
Then, if you destroyed it, wouldn't it destroy the evidence? I think it's a clear destruction of evidence.

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
We will comprehensively judge what you just said...

[Yoon Gun-young/Rep. of the Democratic Party of Korea]
It's the destruction of evidence. I didn't destroy the specific evidence. The destruction of evidence is the destruction of the martial law document received from the president.

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
Considering what the Commissioner said, we have made an emergency arrest.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
So, was there a statement about it? About martial law documents?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division] There was
.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
Was there an order to arrest a member of the National Assembly in the content? in a martial law document

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
In any case, there were some such statements in the process of investigating the police chief.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
Then, was the story of location tracking also in the martial law document?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
I think there was a similar statement that the counterintelligence commander asked for.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
All right. In connection with the civil war incident, four people, Cho Ki-oh, Kim Bong-sik, Cho Tae-yeol, and Chae, have been reported to have received martial law documents from Yoon Suk Yeol. Of the 12 people who participated in the meeting at the time, did anyone else receive additional martial law documents such as Jo Ji-ho and Kim Bong-sik?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
I received it from Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Choi Sang-mok and submitted it to us to our investigative agency, so I attached it.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
Are there any other people?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
We couldn't check the other people.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
You've done your research.

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
What we received is the case of Deputy Prime Minister for Economy Choi Sang-mok.

[Yoon Gun-young / Democratic Party lawmaker]
Then, is the one that Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok received in one document format? Or was it like a memo format? You don't have to explain the contents.

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
I've been briefed that it's a page or two in words.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
It must be at the level of a very crude memo. I'll ask the police chief. I'd like to ask you about the non-phone. Did the Commissioner of the National Police Agency and the Commissioner of Seoul use non-phones from the beginning? Please answer me quickly.

[Interview]
I'm not sure about that.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
Is there a secret phone that the conductor doesn't know? You're acting as an acting authority right now.

[Interview]
You have to get paid.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
As far as I know, the head of the National Police Agency and the head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government did not use a non-phone. I'm asking you since when did you know you used it?

[Interview]
I don't know that.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
Didn't you use a non-face-to-face phone about this civil war?

[Interview]
How do you investigate that in the book...

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of the National Investigation Agency]
I don't know about the police chief's case, but I understand that the head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government has been paid since November during our investigation and used it by the security office, and returned it to the security office immediately after this martial law incident.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
From November?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
From November.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
You couldn't confiscate the non-Phone communication details, right? What do you think?

[Woo Jong-soo / Director of National Investigation Division]
Non-Phone communication details are available only through seizure and search.

[Yoon Gunyoung / Minjoo Party member]
I think we need to arrest the recruits quickly. The statement is the most obvious. I'm telling you because I don't have a specific basis. I'll ask the acting head of Seoul. Commissioner Kim Bong-sik came to the Seoul Metropolitan Government to work after the meeting. Until three hours before martial law was declared.

[Interview]
We don't have any. In fact, I don't know the details because I arrived late after learning about martial law, but as far as I know, the details have not been shared.