The second comprehensive special counsel, which is investigating remaining allegations following the three special counsel probes (insurrection, Kim Keon-hee, and Marine Corps soldier), has requested that independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon appear on the 12th.
The comprehensive special counsel said in a media notice on the 6th, "We have summoned former lawmaker Han as a witness at 10 a.m. on the 12th."
The summons is intended to investigate the connection between the party-government-office (party, government, and Presidential Office) meeting held in the afternoon and the safe house gathering held on the evening of the same day, after the emergency martial law was lifted through a National Assembly vote in the early morning of December 4, 2024. At the time, Han attended the party-government-office meeting as leader of the People Power Party.
The safe house gathering was attended by former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, former Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, former Presidential Office senior secretary for civil affairs Kim Ju-hyun, and former Minister of Government Legislation Lee Wan-kyu. They claimed the gathering was a private meeting for socializing, but the 33rd Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (presiding judge Lee Jin-kwan) ruled on June 22 that measures to respond to the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk-yeol and the insurrection investigation were discussed at the safe house gathering, sentencing former Minister Park, who was indicted on charges including engaging in an important task of insurrection, to 25 years in prison.
The comprehensive special counsel is expected to investigate what was specifically discussed at the party-government-office meeting and the Presidential Office gathering by questioning Han, and to review whether to pursue legal action against the attendees. Earlier, the comprehensive special counsel had imposed a travel ban on Han over allegations that the Yoon Suk-yeol government's Presidential Office interfered in the investigation into the Ssangbangwool remittance case to North Korea, but the ban was lifted last month.
The special counsel team explained, "We intend to verify the circumstances of the attendance at the party-government-office meeting at the time, the content of the discussions at the party-government-office meeting, and the connection with the subsequent safe house gathering."
