Police chiefs face pretrial hearing over rebellion, insurrection allegations

Korean National Police Agency Commissioner Cho Ji-ho and Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Chief Kim Bong-sik were to face pretrial hearings Friday afternoon for alleged violations of the Constitution over allegations of rebellion and insurrection.

According to the Seoul Central District Court, the pretrial hearings for the two police chiefs were to be held at 3 p.m., a day after police filed arrest warrants for both Cho and Kim for violations of the Criminal Act concerning insurrection-related duties.

The prosecution submitted the warrants to the court just after midnight.

The No. 1 and No. 2 police officials were first arrested without a warrant on charges of insurrection early Wednesday, which marked the first time in history that the top two police officials were detained simultaneously.

Both are accused of directing police officials to block access to the National Assembly when South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law on Dec. 3, intending to prevent lawmakers from entering the parliament to repeal the martial law decree.

Charges regarding rebellion were added Thursday, as Cho reportedly confessed under questioning by investigators that Yoon handed him a one-page document during a meeting held at a presidential safehouse with then-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and SMPA Chief Kim three hours before martial law was declared.

Cho reportedly said that the president told him during this meeting to send personnel to 10 locations, including the National Assembly, once martial law was imposed. As both Cho and Kim were allegedly instructed as to which institutions to control following the declaration of martial law, investigators deem that could indicate the two chiefs’ involvement from the planning stage of the martial law operation.

According to Yonhap News Agency on Friday, however, Cho told investigators that he did not abide by the president's orders, even when Yoon called Cho six times to order that his political opponents be arrested.

Once martial law was repealed, Cho reportedly called Yoon to apologize for not abiding by his orders, to which Yoon replied, "(The situation) was wrapped up smoothly, thanks to you."

With testimony apparently showing that both Cho and Kim knew about the martial law imposition plans before it was declared, police stated that detention was deemed “necessary” due to their “contradicting confessions as well as potential risks of evidence tampering.” Previously, the two police chiefs had testified in plenary sessions at the National Assembly on Dec. 4 that they only became aware of the martial law declaration through media reports.

Cho and Kim have been detained at Seoul Namdaemun Police Station since Wednesday. After conducting forensics on both of their phones, the leading police officials have also been under a travel ban since Tuesday.

Investigators have been questioning Cho and Kim based on the testimony of other personnel deployed Dec. 3 and communication records from the same day.