Cho Tae-yong, Former NIS Director, First Summoned, Chae Sang-byeong Special Prosecutor Team

Former Director Cho is expected to appear at the special prosecutor's office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, around 9:30 AM. This is the first summons related to the Chae Sang-byeong case. 

Former Director Cho, considered a key figure in the diplomatic and security line of the previous Yoon Seok-yeol administration, attended the chief secretary meeting presided over by the President on July 31, 2023, as the National Security Office Director, where the so-called 'VIP Fury' occurred.

The 'VIP Fury' suspicion is that former President Yoon Seok-yeol became furious after receiving a report on the initial investigation results of the Chae Sang-byeong case by the Marine Corps Investigation Team during this meeting, saying, "If the division commander (Lim Seong-geun, former Marine Corps 1st Division Commander) is punished for such a matter, who can be a division commander?" Subsequently, then Defense Minister Lee Jong-seop suddenly ordered the suspension of police transfer and cancellation of media briefing.

Former Director Cho stayed after the meeting with former National Defense Secretary Lim Ki-hoon and had a separate conversation with former President Yoon, and it was investigated that he spoke with former Defense Minister Lee on August 2 of that year, when the initial investigation results of the Marine Corps Investigation Team were retrieved from the police.

Additionally, it was revealed that he had a phone call with Pastor Kim Jang-hwan, whom the special prosecutor suspects as an intermediary in the lobbying for Lim Seong-geun's rescue, raising suspicions of involvement in the rescue lobbying.

The special prosecutor team is expected to focus on questioning former Director Cho about the circumstances before and after the problematic chief secretary meeting and the instructions given by former President Yoon.

Former Director Cho stated in the National Assembly in 2023 regarding the suspicions of former President Yoon's fury and the order to suspend the case transfer, "There is no such fact," and "The mission of the National Security Office is to assist the entire state affairs, not to grasp the details of a specific case's investigation process."