Park Sung-jae Faces Detention Once Again... "No Change in My Position"

[Financial News] Park Sung-jae, the former Minister of Justice, once again faces possible detention over allegations of supporting the December 3 martial law declared by former President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Nam Se-jin, the judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Central District Court, is holding a pretrial detention hearing on the 13th for Park Sung-jae, who is accused of participating in key insurrection duties and abuse of authority.
Before the hearing, Park Sung-jae told reporters, when asked if he considered the second warrant hearing to be an excessive request, "My position remains unchanged." He did not respond to further questions regarding whether he had ordered the drafting and deletion of documents related to abuse of authority, or whether he had demanded signatures at the Cabinet meeting prior to martial law.
Park Sung-jae is accused of having discussed and been aware of Yoon Suk Yeol's illegal martial law in advance, but as a Cabinet member, failing to actively prevent it and instead participating in the process.
It was revealed that after the declaration of martial law by Yoon Suk Yeol on December 3 of last year, Park Sung-jae instructed the Prosecutors' Bureau at a senior officials' meeting at the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) to consider dispatching prosecutors to a joint investigation team. About ten directors and bureau chiefs from the MOJ attended the meeting and received these instructions from Park.
Prior to the declaration of martial law, Park Sung-jae, along with former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, was confirmed to have been aware of the martial law plan at the Office of the President of South Korea. Park also had three phone calls with former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung before and after the meetings. The Special Prosecutor Team, led by Cho Eun-seok, believes Park discussed the dispatch of prosecutors with Shim and focused on this during questioning. Shim is also suspected of having sent prosecutors from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, stationed at the National Election Commission (NEC) in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, to investigate alleged election fraud during martial law.
Additionally, Park Sung-jae is accused of instructing the Korea Immigration Service to keep a travel ban team on standby on the day martial law was declared. In fact, on the night of martial law, the immigration control team responsible for entry and exit bans and counter-terrorism operations reported to the MOJ headquarters. The Special Prosecutor Team believes Park took these actions to prevent politicians listed as 'arrest targets' from leaving the country, having been aware in advance of Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law.
Furthermore, Park is accused of instructing the Korea Correctional Service to check detention capacity and secure space to accommodate politicians and others after martial law. He is also suspected of participating in a 'post-martial law safe house meeting.' On the afternoon of the day martial law was lifted, Park, former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, former Senior Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs Kim Joo-hyun, former Presidential Legal Secretary Han Jeong-hwa, and former Director of the Ministry of Government Legislation Wankyu Lee attended a meeting at the President's safe house in Jongno, Seoul.
Park's legal team has argued in previous investigations and warrant hearings that they cannot agree with the Special Prosecutor Team's claim that the declaration of martial law itself constitutes insurrection. They also asserted that even if there were legal violations, Park was not fully aware of them at the time. As Minister of Justice during martial law, Park claims he only performed routine duties and denies issuing any improper orders.
The Special Prosecutor Team initially requested an arrest warrant for Park on the 9th of last month, but the court rejected it, citing insufficient grounds for detention. After conducting additional searches, the team discovered further evidence of alleged crimes and reapplied for the warrant.
The results of the pretrial detention hearing are expected to be announced late tonight at the earliest.
[email protected] Jung Kyung-soo Reporter