Kim Yong-dae, the commander of the drone operations (Major General) suspected of involvement in North Korea's drone infiltration operation, returned home about 14 hours after appearing before the special prosecution.
On the 17th, Commander Kim received a police investigation on charges of general betraying the state, creating false public documents, and abusing authority, and when he left the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office around 11:35 p.m., he claimed to reporters, "The purpose of the drone operation was merely to respond to North Korea's balloon provocations, and there was absolutely no intention to be discovered."
In response to the question, "Did you not feel that former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun used the martial law for that purpose?" Commander Kim stated, "I believe there is no connection between the emergency martial law and the (Pyongyang drone infiltration) operation," adding, "The claim that we carried out this operation multiple times in order to provoke North Korea is an exaggerated Director. I think this is why the military operational area has become the subject of a criminal investigation."
The special prosecution team is said to have presented circumstantial evidence during the investigation that doubts Commander Kim conspired with former President Yoon Suk-yeol regarding the drone deployment operation last September involving a 'trilateral meeting' with former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun and former President Yoon. However, Commander Kim said, "I proved that no meeting took place through the Ministry of National Defense's entry log," and added, "According to the entry records, there were no entries showing I went to the presidential office, only at the Ministry of National Defense headquarters."
The special prosecution team also reportedly pressed Commander Kim on whether former President Yoon Suk-yeol directly instructed the drone unit to deploy drones into Pyongyang in October and November of last year, and whether they proceeded with the operation knowing the risk of a crash in North Korea due to drone modifications and GPS disruption.
In response, Commander Kim insisted, "As a field commander who receives orders from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I only executed the commands from the Joint Chiefs of Staff," and added, "I was only trying to maximize the capabilities of the equipment I have, whether it is good or bad."
Regarding the charge of creating false public documents, he said, "Because it was a secret military operation, there were situations where I could not document it accurately, and that became a problem of administrative inexperience," expressing regret that he and his unit members could face punishment.
On this day, the special prosecution team also summoned Lee Seung-o, head of the operations headquarters of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Army Lieutenant General), to investigate whether reporting followed the command structure in relation to the operations and whether there were any instructions from former Minister Kim or former President Yoon.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff, which is the highest command for each military branch, has command and control over the drone unit, and practically, the operations headquarters of the Joint Chiefs of Staff exercises command over the drone operations.
The special prosecution team suspects that former President Yoon Suk-yeol directly instructed the drone unit to deploy drones into Pyongyang last October for the purpose of creating a justification for declaring an emergency martial law, bypassing the Ministry of National Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The special prosecution team believes that due to the drone deployment operation, the risk of military conflict between North and South has increased as North Korea blew up the Kyungui Line and Donghae Line inter-Korean roads, and that the downed drones were retrieved by the North, leading to the leak of military secrets and equipment, which undermined Korea's military interests.
Furthermore, it is judged that if the North Korean operations were carried out without following the necessary procedures, including obtaining approval from the United Nations Command (UNC) through the Joint Chiefs of Staff, it would constitute abuse of authority against the military.
The special prosecution team is scheduled to summon Commander Kim again for questioning on the 20th.