2nd Special Counsel Seeks Arrest Warrant for Former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung

The second special counsel team on the emergency martial law incident has requested an arrest warrant for former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung. The special counsel applied charges of engaging in important insurrection duties, alleging that former Prosecutor General Shim reviewed dispatching prosecutors to the Martial Law Command’s Joint Investigation Headquarters during the 'December 3 Insurrection.' The special counsel revealed that the warrant request also includes charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights for coercing the abandonment of an immediate appeal against the decision to cancel former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s arrest.

It was revealed that shortly after the declaration of emergency martial law, former Prosecutor General Shim spoke with former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae three times to review support for the martial law investigation and instructed his staff to examine the legal basis. During the special counsel’s investigation, former Prosecutor General Shim testified that he had asked about the transfer of jurisdiction to military courts. The first trial court sentenced former Minister Park to 25 years in prison, determining that former Minister Park had called former Prosecutor General Shim to instruct him to cooperate in the personnel dispatch.

The independent counsel team also requested arrest warrants for Audit Commissioner Byung-ho Yoo and former Daegu District Public Prosecutor General Head of Planning and Coordination Mu-gon Jeon.