Former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung Faces Arrest Warrant Review Over Alleged Involvement in Insurrection

[Financial News] Former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung, who is under suspicion of having been involved in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's December 3 Martial Law declaration, is now facing an arrest warrant review.
According to the legal community on the 14th, Judge Boo Dong-sik of the Seoul Central District Court will hold a pretrial detention hearing on the 16th for Shim, who is accused of participation in important duties related to insurrection and abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights, as well as Jeon Mu-gon, former head of the Planning and Coordination Division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.
Shim is accused of being involved in the process of carrying out an order from former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae to dispatch prosecutors to the martial law Joint Investigation Headquarters immediately after the December 3, 2024, declaration of martial law. Jeon, who reportedly assisted Shim before and after the martial law declaration, is also suspected of reviewing documents related to the jurisdiction of the insurrection investigation and trial.
The first trial panel in Park's insurrection case previously found that, during a meeting of the Ministry of Justice's bureau and department heads held shortly after the martial law declaration, Park instructed Shim to consider dispatching public prosecutors to the Joint Investigation Headquarters, send forensic investigators, and call in the travel ban team. The court also determined that Shim later contacted senior officials at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.
The special prosecutor secured related evidence by raiding the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in May and again on the 3rd of this month. It is said to have obtained and analyzed work PCs used by senior prosecutors and the internal prosecution messenger server, Epros, stored at the National Information Resources Service Gwangju Center.
Shim is also accused of failing to file an immediate appeal after the court canceled Yoon Suk Yeol's detention in March last year.
At the time, the court ruled to cancel the detention, saying the detention period should be calculated in hours rather than days. Shim, however, did not file an immediate appeal, citing constitutional concerns, and instead ordered Yoon's release. The special prosecutor is also examining whether that process amounted to abuse of authority.
However, the allegation that Shim interfered with the investigation into Kim Keon-hee over Deutsche Motors was not included in the charges underlying the current arrest warrant request.
[email protected] Jung Kyung-soo Reporter