Comprehensive Special Prosecutor Indicts Former KTV Director Lee Eunwoo Without Detention on 'Sedition Allegations'

Repeated Broadcasts Justifying Martial Law
Charged with Blocking Critical Content
Sedition Charges Previously Dropped by Special Prosecutor

The second Comprehensive Special Prosecutor Team led by Kwon Changyoung has referred former Korea Policy Broadcasting (KTV) Director Lee Eunwoo to trial on charges of sedition for repeatedly broadcasting content justifying martial law during the 12·3 Martial Law period.

Former KTV Director Lee Eunwoo Completes Sentence for 'Ordering Removal of Martial Law Criticism Subtitles'. Yonhap News

On August 11, the special prosecutor’s office announced that Lee had been indicted without detention on charges of sedition under the Criminal Act.

Lee is accused of using his authority over programming and transmission of KTV news specials and scrolling news to repeatedly disseminate information justifying martial law and the declaration of orders related to the rebellion from December 3 to December 13, 2024.

Conversely, he has also been charged with selectively blocking or deleting content that criticized or opposed the acts of rebellion, thereby allegedly encouraging an unspecified number of viewers to support the rebellion through propaganda.

The special prosecutor’s office especially concluded that former President Yoon Sukyeol’s rebellious acts did not end with the lifting of martial law on December 4, 2024, but rather on December 14, when the National Assembly passed the impeachment motion. The team classified Yoon’s offenses as a “top-down rebellion,” distinguishing it from the “bottom-up rebellion” led by Chun Doo-hwan’s military junta.

It further explained that, since the crime of rebellion requires a specific objective, the end point should be defined as the moment the perpetrator abandons this objective or it becomes objectively impossible to achieve. Accordingly, Lee’s actions from December 3 to December 13 were grouped together and indicted as a single charge of sedition.

Previously, Lee had already been indicted for deleting broadcast subtitles related to martial law, and on June 1, he was sentenced in the first trial to one year in prison, suspended for two years. At that time, Jo Eunsuk’s special prosecutor team prosecuted him for abuse of authority but acquitted him of sedition charges.

In May, the comprehensive special prosecutor sought an arrest warrant for Lee on sedition charges, but the court rejected it, stating that “there is room for dispute as to whether the crime of sedition has been established.” Since much of the current indictment overlaps factually with the previous trial, controversy over possible “double jeopardy” is likely to continue.

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