Insurrection Special Prosecutor, Arrest Warrant for Former Minister Lee Sang-min… Allegations of Orders to Cut Off Media Power and Water

[Financial News] The Insurrection and Foreign Affairs Special Prosecutor Team (Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-seok) has moved to secure the arrest of former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min in connection with allegations of orders to cut off power and water to media outlets.
Park Ji-young, Deputy Special Prosecutor for Insurrection, announced at a press briefing on the afternoon of the 28th that "at 1:47 PM today, an arrest warrant was requested for former Minister Lee on charges of engaging in important insurrection tasks, abuse of authority, and perjury."
Deputy Special Prosecutor Park stated, "This decision was made after comprehensively considering the seriousness of the crime, the risk of evidence destruction, and the possibility of reoffending," adding that "a detailed explanation of the charges will be provided through a pre-arrest suspect interrogation."
Former Minister Lee is accused of ordering the National Fire Agency to cut off power and water to certain media outlets following instructions from former President Yoon Seok-yeol during the emergency martial law declaration on December 3 last year.
The special prosecutor team believes that former Minister Lee actually issued related instructions to the National Fire Agency and implemented media control as specified in the martial law proclamation.
Additionally, the special prosecutor believes that former Minister Lee failed to fulfill his constitutional duty to protect the constitution as a member of the State Council. It is alleged that he did not actively prevent or stop former President Yoon from enforcing the martial law declaration.
The charge of perjury was also applied. Former Minister Lee appeared as a witness at the Constitutional Court's impeachment trial of former President Yoon last February and testified that "he saw the media control document from afar at the Presidential Office," but it was reported that CCTV captured him holding the document and conversing with former Prime Minister Han Deok-soo.
Deputy Special Prosecutor Park explained the reason for the delay in requesting the warrant, stating, "It was not delayed; it just took time to organize the facts," and "after the last investigation, we continued investigating until early Saturday morning, which led to the organization of charges and the request for the warrant."


425_sama@fnnews.com Choi Seung-han Reporter