South Korean prosecutors on Monday questioned former intelligence chief, Cho Tae-yong, over allegations linked to former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed martial law declaration in 2024.
Cho, who previously led the National Intelligence Service appeared before a special counsel team in Seoul for interrogation.
Investigators are examining claims that he sought to contact the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) following Yoon’s declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, in an effort to convey a message defending the emergency measure.
The probe also focuses on allegations that the NIS received a document from the presidential office one day after the declaration, accompanied by a request to explain the rationale behind the decree to countries considered friendly to South Korea.
The questioning comes weeks after a Seoul district court sentenced Cho to 18 months in prison. The court found him guilty of perjury after determining that he falsely testified before the Constitutional Court that he had not received any martial law-related documents from Yoon.
Yoon was sentenced to life imprisonment in February after being convicted of leading an insurrection through the unsuccessful martial law attempt. The decree remained in effect for only a few hours before lawmakers in the National Assembly voted to revoke it.
The former president is currently facing eight separate trials related to the martial law bid, alleged corruption involving his wife, and the 2023 death of a marine officer.
