Yoon Completes First Questioning as Special Prosecutor's Suspect... Probed Over Alleged Order to Justify Martial Law to U.S.

6-Hour Interrogation as a Suspect
Yoon Denies Allegations During Questioning

On June 6, former President Yoon Suk-yeol was summoned as a suspect by the Second Comprehensive Special Prosecutor's Office led by Kwon Chang-young, where he was questioned for approximately 6 hours and 30 minutes. The special prosecutor's team focused its investigation on allegations that Yoon had instructed the delivery of messages to the United States and other allied countries to justify the December 3 Martial Law Declaration.

The questioning of former President Yoon began at 10:00 a.m. on this day and concluded at 4:30 p.m. After completing the investigation, Yoon immediately boarded a Ministry of Justice transport vehicle and headed directly to the Seoul Detention Center.

The special prosecutor's team closely questioned Yoon about allegations that, immediately after declaring martial law, he instructed the Presidential Office's National Security Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send messages to the United States and other allied countries conveying the legitimacy of the martial law. The reported content of the messages included statements such as "This measure is to protect liberal democracy" and "President Yoon Suk-yeol maintains a stance of opposing pro-North Korean leftists and anti-Americanism."

It was found that the National Security Office, acting on these instructions, delivered Yoon's message to the National Intelligence Service the day after the martial law, requesting that the background of the martial law be explained to allied countries. Former NIS Director Cho Taeyong subsequently ordered the overseas division under the First Deputy Director to translate the message into English, and the special prosecutor's office determined that the message was then delivered directly by summoning the CIA chief to provide an explanation.

In response, former President Yoon reportedly testified that he had never given specific instructions to the National Security Office or other relevant agencies, effectively denying the allegations.

This was the first time former President Yoon was summoned and questioned as a suspect by the comprehensive special prosecutor's team. The summons and questioning came 101 days after the launch of the special prosecutor's office on February 25.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.