The second integrated special counsel team led by Kwon Chang-young has sought an arrest warrant for Lee Eun-woo, former president of KTV, on charges of propagating insurrection. It is the first arrest warrant request since the integrated special counsel was launched in February.
The special counsel team announced through a press notice on the 18th that it had sought an arrest warrant for the former president on charges of insurrection propaganda under the Criminal Act.
The former president is suspected of repeatedly and intensively broadcasting content asserting the legitimacy of the martial law declaration and the proclamation from December 3 to 13 last year, by using his authority over the programming and transmission of news bulletins and scroll news on KTV, the Korea Policy Broadcasting Service. In contrast, news intended to criticize or block the martial law measures was found to have been selectively blocked or deleted.
The special counsel views these actions as going beyond the mere exercise of editorial authority, amounting to propagating and defending acts of insurrection. Article 90, Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Act stipulates that those who propagate or incite insurrection shall be punished by imprisonment or confinement of at least three years.
Earlier, the insurrection special counsel had indicted the former president without detention, applying only the charge of abuse of authority and obstruction of rights for ordering the deletion of critical reports related to the December 3 martial law declaration. The first-instance trial is currently underway. At the closing arguments held on the 15th, the insurrection special counsel team that indicted the former president sought a five-year prison sentence against him.
The integrated special counsel explained, "After re-analyzing the investigation records and broadcast programming materials at the time, we confirmed circumstances indicating that the insurrection forces were defended and shielded not only during the martial law period but also after its lifting, and decided to reopen the investigation."
