[Anchor]
Former National Intelligence Service Deputy Director Hong Jang-won, who previously claimed that President Yoon directly ordered the arrest of politicians, testified to the same effect today (4th).
However, Yeon Hyung, the former chief of counterintelligence and a key figure in uncovering the arrest team controversy, mostly refused to answer questions and raised doubts about Hong’s testimony.
Report by Gong Min-kyung.
[Report]
On the day of the emergency martial law, former NIS deputy director Hong Jang-won has testified that President Yoon Seok-yeol told him, “Arrest them all and wrap things up”.
He appeared as a witness at the Constitutional Court and reiterated his claims.
[Hong Jang-won/Former NIS Deputy Director: “(Are you maintaining that you directly received the order to operate the arrest team from the president?) Yes, I am.”]
Hong’s testimony includes receiving and noting down an arrest list from Yeon Hyung, the former chief of counterintelligence, after talking with him over the phone following the president’s remarks.
However, former chief Yeon claimed that while they did talk, he does not remember the exact content.
He further questioned Hong’s statement, pointing out that Hong mentioned in an interview that he said “the arrest team is out” around 10:40 PM on the night of the martial law, whereas the average deployment time for counterintelligence agents is around 1 AM, two hours later.
Yeon refused to answer specific questions related to the formation of the arrest team, such as whether he received a list of 14 people from Minister Kim, stating that he would address it in a criminal trial.
He did, however, acknowledge that shortly after the martial law, he requested the police to identify the locations of certain individuals on a specific list.
Prosecutor’s investigation concluded that Yeon requested police chief Cho Ji-ho to locate about 10 people, including Lee Jae-myung, Woo Won-shik, and Han Dong-hoon. Yeon stated, “There was a dictated list, but some memories of Chief Cho and mine differ,” and said it needs to be clarified in a criminal trial.
Yeon claimed to have answered the investigative agency diligently and to some extent accurately documented but refused to answer many questions he had already addressed during the prosecution inquiry.
This is KBS News Gong Min-kyung reporting.
Camera: Ryu Jae-hyun/Video Editing: Yang Da-woon/Graphic Design: Park Mi-ju, Kim Ji-hoon
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