During the martial law on Dec. 3, testimony has emerged that Administrator Jo Ji-ho of the Korean National Police Agency and former National Police Agency Chief Woo Jong-su, among other police leaders, approved a request for support from the Military Counterintelligence Command's arrest team.
On the 29th, the 25th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Director General Ji Gwi-yeon, opened a trial regarding the charges of misconduct in rebellion against Administrator Jo and former Seoul Police Agency Chief Kim Bong-sik, and conducted witness examinations of former National Police Agency Investigation Planning Officer Jeon Chang-hoon.
Former Officer Jeon noted, “I heard from (the superior) former Planning and Coordination Officer Yoon Seung-young that Administrator Jo said to prepare a list of 100 people from the Joint Investigation Headquarters and 20 vehicles.” It implies that former Officer Yoon reported the request for counterintelligence support to Administrator Jo before and after a meeting held during the martial law last year.
He also mentioned, “I heard that Administrator Jo said, ‘Please send 5 counterintelligence officers in plain clothes.’”
When asked if he heard from former Coordination Officer Yoon that Administrator Jo approved the counterintelligence request, he said, “Instead of the term approval, I interpreted it as, ‘Please send them from Yeongdeungpo’ and ‘Please send them in plain clothes.’”
When the prosecution asked, ‘Is it correct that Yoon Seung-young, Woo Jong-su, and Jo Ji-ho did not oppose and approved the list provided for the arrest support of the counterintelligence officers?’, he answered, ‘Yes.’
He stated, “Going to arrest means mainly that the counterintelligence officers do it, and we just coordinated and cooperated, so I didn’t think of specifically who was to be arrested,” adding, “I didn’t know the details and just thought it must be a violation of the martial law.”
The court will continue witness examinations of Counterintelligence Major Shin Dong-gul and Counterintelligence Investigation Unit Chief Kim Dae-woo on the 5th of next month.