[On-Site Video+] Police Special Investigation Team Attempted to Seizure Yongsan Presidential Office's Security Service

[Anchor]
The National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters Special Investigation Team launched an additional search and seizure attempt against the presidential security office in Yongsan today (27th).

It is said to be related to CCTV in the safe house.

Earlier, the security service refused to search and seizure of the presidential office building twice for reasons such as military secrets, and attention is being paid to whether the search and seizure can be executed.

Let's take a look at the screen near the presidential office a while ago.

It seems that the search and seizure are taking place now.

So, attempts are being made, but CCTV inside the president's office and CCTV near the president's office appear to be the target.

[Anchor]
Police Commissioner Jo Ji-ho and Seoul Police Commissioner Kim Bong-sik, who were arrested on charges of engaging in important missions of rebellion, met with President Yoon Suk Yeol at the presidential safety house and the presidential safe house about three hours before the declaration of the emergency martial law on the 3rd, and received orders to take control of the institution after martial law.

In addition, on the 4th, when the emergency martial law was lifted, Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, former Minister of Public Administration and Security Lee Sang-min, and Lee Wan-kyu, head of the Legislative Office, reportedly met at the safe house. Earlier, the police special team applied for a search warrant for the security and surrounding CCTV in Samcheong-dong to find out the president's movements on the day of martial law, but it was rejected by the court once.

I just heard that the police special forces are currently attempting to search and seizure. In fact, there were not a few criticisms about why the search and seizure of Anga was rejected. Because the meeting took place here. What do you think of this search and seizure attempt?

[Lee Seung Hoon]
The police probably applied. I think there was a lack of application in that part. In the case of safe houses, I don't think there were any special computer facilities or anything like that. So I remember that it was dismissed in the sense of the court as to whether there was a need to search and seizure the safe house.

However, the ones that came out this time mean that in the end, they received a search warrant for the CCTV around the safe house and the CCTV around the safe house. What that is is is, what important people went to this safe house before martial law was declared, and if you specify these people, you can investigate these people.

And after martial law, Minister Lee Sang-min, Minister of Legislation Lee Wan-kyu, and Minister of Justice went, so we can investigate why these people went to the house. For example, we prepared for the second martial law.There may have been discussions about what purpose Eden went to and how to deal with the evidence or witnesses that are important in this martial law process, and the destruction of evidence.

In fact, the Minister of Justice, Lee Sang-min, the Minister of Public Administration and Security, and Lee Wan-kyu, the Minister of Legislation, all changed their phones after that. It can be said that there was a systematic attempt to destroy important evidence related to this martial law case, so it seems that the court issued a search warrant focusing on objective evidence such as CCTV.

[Anchor]
I'll give it to you again. The National Police Agency's special investigation team is attempting to seize and search the presidential safety house in Samcheong-dong, Seoul today. It is also the place where President Yoon handed over an order containing a control agency such as a media company to Police Commissioner Jo Ji-ho three hours before martial law. Just a moment ago, news broke that YTN caught the situation near President Samcheong-dong's safe house, where the police arrived.

But you're trying to search and seizure by getting a warrant like this. I don't know if the search and seizure are going smoothly right now. Is it possible that there will be a situation where they can reject it again for some reason?

[Choi Jinyoung]
I think the possibility of that is realistically high. The so-called safe house itself, as the name suggests, is one of the national security facilities. According to the Criminal Procedure Act, if a national security facility is seized and searched, the seizure and search can be conducted only with the consent of the manager who manages the facility.

Even if there is a court search warrant for that part, I know that it is quite difficult to execute it in the case of national security facilities. In fact, in the case of the presidential office in Yongsan last time, a search warrant was issued.Ma submitted it in the form of voluntary submission, and as far as I remember, President Moon Jae In tried to execute the search warrant for the presidential office about four times, but he couldn't execute it and executed the search warrant by randomly submitting what was on the search list.

In that sense, in today's case, it is called CCTV, but if it is like CCTV, once a search warrant is issued, it is subject to seizure and search on the attached list of the search warrant. Then, I think we will consult with the head of the facility and collect the evidence that we are trying to achieve in the court's warrant on this part by arbitrarily submitting CCTV-related video files or such parts.

Under the current situation, as I said, it was probably the case during the Park Geun Hye administration, and considering that it is a national security facility anyway, the officials in charge have no choice but to follow the same manual, so it is highly likely that the investigation will be carried out in a way that actively responds to the investigation but prevents investigators from entering the security facility directly.

[Anchor]
We are faced with a situation where the security service continues to refuse such seizure and search for military secrets, and isn't there a lot of other parts necessary for this investigation? And there are continuous concerns that the fear of destroying evidence increases over time. I think there are some people who are frustrated with this part as to how long they have to keep watching them refuse to search like this.

[Lee Seung Hoon]
That's right. It's very frustrating. From the public's point of view, the relevant evidence must be seized and searched to confirm whether there is a crime in the constitutional trial process in the future, and this evidence can be extinguished over time, right? Especially in the case of CCTV, there may be a retention period. That's why I don't think the presidential security should refuse the seizure and search just because it's a state secret. Also, I think the court should expand the scope of seizure and search more discretion in this area.