SEOUL, Nov. 28– South Korea’s special counsel on Friday indicted a former spy agency chief in the martial law case involving former impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol.
Cho Tae-yong, former director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), was indicted while in detention on charges of violation of the NIS Act banning political activities, dereliction of duty, perjury, destruction of evidence, creation and use of false official documents, and violation of the act on testimony before the National Assembly.
Park Ji-young, deputy special prosecutor and spokesperson of Cho Eun-suk, special counsel leading the investigation into Yoon’s insurrection and other charges, told a press briefing that the former NIS chief was charged with violating his duty to report to the National Assembly following the martial law declaration and engaging in political activities.
Park noted that though the former NIS chief was briefed on Yoon’s order to support the defense counterintelligence command’s arrest of politicians and was aware of the insurrection significantly impacting national security, he failed to take any action as the NIS director.
The constitutional court upheld a motion to impeach Yoon on April 4 over his botched martial law bid last December, officially removing him from office.
The ousted leader was indicted under detention on Jan. 26 as a suspected ringleader of insurrection. (Namibia Daily News/Xinhua)
