'Aiding the Leader of Rebellion' Han Deok-su's Warrant Review on the 27th... First Former Prime Minister to be Arrested

[Financial News] Han Deok-su, former Prime Minister, accused of aiding the leader of rebellion, will be the first former Prime Minister to undergo a detention review.
According to the legal community on the 25th, Judge Jeong Jae-wook of the Seoul Central District Court, who is in charge of warrants, will conduct a pre-arrest interrogation (warrant review) for former Prime Minister Han, who is accused of aiding the leader of rebellion, perjury, creating and destroying false official documents, damaging public documents, and violating the Presidential Records Management Act, at 1:30 PM on the 27th.
Former Prime Minister Han is accused of knowing in advance about the December 3 martial law of former President Yoon Seok-yeol last year but failing to prevent it and aiding it. He is also suspected of signing and ordering the destruction of a false martial law proclamation written by Kang Yi-gu, former Chief of Staff of the Presidential Office, on December 5 last year, shortly after the martial law.
The special prosecutor's team requested a 25-page arrest warrant for former Prime Minister Han the previous day. The team judged that Han, who was appointed with the consent of the National Assembly, had the authority to prevent the President's illegal martial law. They viewed it as more than just a failure to prevent it, but as aiding it.
Park Ji-young, the special prosecutor, emphasized, "The Prime Minister is the only public official appointed by the President within the executive branch and is the primary national institution that assists in the constitutional duty of safeguarding the Constitution," adding, "He is also the Vice Chairman of the Cabinet Meeting, a constitutional mechanism to preemptively check and control the President's arbitrary exercise of power."
In particular, former Prime Minister Han testified as a witness at the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court last year and early this year, saying, "I do not remember receiving the martial law proclamation" or "I knew it was in the back pocket of my suit," but during the second special prosecutor's investigation on the 19th, he admitted to receiving the martial law proclamation from former President Yoon, reversing his statement. Due to this reversal, the special prosecutor's team allocated significant portions to the concern of evidence destruction, seeing it as an attempt by Han to evade investigation by lying.
The special prosecutor's team is expected to emphasize the necessity of arrest by pointing out △the fact that former Prime Minister Han was aware of the martial law in advance but did not prevent it △the false testimony at the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court △the attempt to legitimize the procedural flaws of the illegal martial law △the drafting, signing, and subsequent destruction of the martial law proclamation.
If former Prime Minister Han is arrested, it will be the first time in constitutional history that a former Prime Minister is arrested. Although former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook was prosecuted and tried by the prosecution, she was not detained. If the arrest of former Prime Minister Han is successful, the special prosecutor's team plans to accelerate the investigation into Cho Tae-yong, former Director of the National Intelligence Service, who attended the Cabinet meeting before the martial law.


theknight@fnnews.com Jeong Kyung-soo Reporter