[News Now] Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit Retries President Yoon's Compulsory Arrest...Should I send it to the prosecution early?

■ Host: Kim Sun-young Anchor, Jung Ji-woong Anchor
■ Starring: Son Jeong-hye Attorney

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN News Special] when quoting.

[Anchor]
President Yoon is not responding to the investigation, and the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit is not producing any results. Let's talk with lawyer Sohn Jung-hye about the situation of President Yoon's investigation. Welcome.

First of all, if you look at the morning situation, the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit is now attempting to seize and search the presidential office, but it seems to be confronting the security service again. Do you think there is a possibility of returning without results like last time?

[Son Jung-hye]
It was expected that they would apply for a search and seizure again. Because if there is necessary evidence, it is the responsibility of the investigative agency to carry out various procedures to find the necessary evidence, so it was expected that they would apply for a warrant again and try it. As the situation has not changed and the security service is still confronted, the security chief or acting chief does not approve it, and a confrontation is expected. I thought a legal interpretation would be necessary in this case.

Rather than continuously attempting to issue seizure warrants issued by the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit, there is room for rejection of approval to be viewed as an administrative disposition, so I personally think it would be reasonable not to approve the disposition like this with the court's decision on the grounds that there is no basis, or to try to search and seizure again after being judged as illegal for rejection of approval.

[Anchor]
I think you're trying to confiscate non-Phone servers or minutes through raid, hasn't it been a long time? So isn't it possible that the evidence was destroyed?

[Son Jeonghye]
There could be enough. Even if you go to a place already designated as a site for seizure and search, there is a very high possibility that the list for seizure will not exist. However, in a situation where it is not confirmed whether it exists or not, the investigative agency cannot give up this, so we do not give up and continue to search and seizure, I can tell you this. And if the actual search and seizure did not exist or someone destroyed it, it is also meaningful in the investigation process.

Because the possibility of destroying evidence must be maintained in the future, the investigative agency has not been able to locate the current evidence to the court in this regard, such as arrest and bail claims, and the suspect is not cooperating with the evidence, so there is a possibility that the current necessary evidence will continue to be attempted as long as the investigative agency remains.

[Anchor]
They say they keep looking for non-Phone servers, so for example, did they order them to bring down lawmakers? This is a situation where key officials and President Yoon Suk Yeol's statements are conflicting. If I secure a non-Phone server, can I check the facts in that part?

[Son Jeonghye]
Since non-Phone is a security phone, I still can't confirm how much content is left, but at least the call details may remain. Some military generals came to the National Assembly and claimed that I received directions on the phone that day, and prosecution statements to that effect remain. If you check the non-phonic server or the non-phonic phone itself and have a history of calling the person at that time, it can be a very important data to determine the credibility of the statement.

As such, the existence of non-Phone will be able to demonstrate a very high value of existence, and if you called other people other than military generals or related people before that, there is a possibility that additional suspects may be found among those who have not been booked.

[Anchor]
The Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit is still trying to force a job. It's the third attempt today, but there's a high possibility that President Yoon won't respond today, right?

[Son Jeonghye]
That's right. In a situation where there is a possibility that they will not respond to the investigation even to maintain consistency, and even if they are forced to arrest them, the choice will be to use force, or practical tangible power, at the airborne office.

Since he has the burden of evaluating that it is a little too much, it seems that he is preparing for a space for a visit survey by turning to an on-site visit survey. President Yoon has to choose whether he will respond to this as well. If they refuse to conduct an on-site investigation, they will leave it in the investigation records and reports that it is practically difficult to conduct a statement investigation and finish other investigations.

[Anchor] It is known that an investigation room has been set up in the
detention center, what about it normally? Do you do a lot of door-to-door research like this when you're in a detention center? Or what kind of method do you choose a lot?

[Son Jeonghye]
Not only is it very cumbersome, but it is difficult to prepare related video recordings and necessary materials in the detention center, so field surveys and visit surveys are extremely exceptional. However, in the past, former presidents and major political criminals did not respond to the investigation, and there were cases where sick people went to the hospital to investigate, so it is exceptional, but since it is a procedure that has been conducted several times, the investigative agency can inevitably choose to ask the necessary questions regardless of location.

[Anchor] Some analysts say that such an attempt to force President Yun
is not effective. For example, even if you are forced to seek employment, you can continue to use the right to refuse statements as you did in the first investigation, and how do you view this part?

[Son Jeonghye]
Even if they do not comply with the statement investigation, they are likely to refuse to make a statement or deny the overall facts, so it is very difficult to find evidence of guilt that can be proven as an investigative agency as a suspect newspaper. Rather, for the investigative agency, these attitudes should be left with the fact that they actively gave the suspect an opportunity to investigate the inconsistency or contradiction of the statement, but they did not submit favorable evidence and only made statements that were inconsistent with other evidence. In short, the suspect cannot give up the investigation and hand it over to the court immediately because he refuses.

If this is not possible after continuous efforts of several attempts and procedures, it can be brought to the court, but it can be pointed out that the investigative agency's responsibility has been abandoned, so the remaining questions should be interpreted as a will to show efforts to do so.

[Anchor]
The Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit even said, "It seems like I'm playing hide-and-seek with the president today," but he didn't know he was going to the hospital after attending the Constitutional Court's impeachment trial yesterday. How do I watch this?

[Son Jeonghye]
There's a little bit more of a mystery. In conclusion, since the Ministry of Justice, the prosecution, the Senior Civil Servant Correctional Officer, and the Ministry of Justice are responsible for permitting people to go out to the hospital, the Ministry of Justice, the prosecution, the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit, and the police are reported to cooperate smoothly with the investigation process. However, in detention centers and prisons, it is reasonable to provide hospital treatment to the outside at a time when health problems are raised, and if medical records related to them or details of treatment are presented, it is difficult to approve them, and furthermore, it seems that the president's health condition is a national security matter, so outside hospital treatment is more appropriate than inside the prison.

[Anchor]
Director of Airborne Oh Dong-woon said this this morning. President Yoon said that setting a hospital schedule seems to be a step to avoid investigation.

[Son Jeonghye]
It is predicted that the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit will go out as a forced recruitment during the hospital investigation, but since it went out without prior consultation, coordination, or understanding, the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit must have judged that this also ignores the investigation process. Even if I go to the hospital, I will not respond to the investigation because I am going to the hospital today, but when will I go? Usually, it is coordinated like this, but since even this is done without notification, the investigative agency has no choice but to criticize it for avoiding the investigation process. If it does not come out today, it will continue to refuse to comply with the investigation procedure. Since it can be evaluated like that, it seems that the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit is already predicting that it will not comply with the investigation process.

[Anchor]
Anyway, I was forced to seek a job for three consecutive days, and as an airborne organization, I had no choice but to feel urgent, but how did the timing get organized? When does the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit have to hand it over to the prosecution?

[Son Jeonghye]
Regarding the investigation deadline, the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit seems to have set a deadline for the expiration of the arrest on February 7th, excluding the time related to arrest and arrest. Considering the possibility of errors in this judgment and the situation in which work is not done properly due to a variable at the last minute, the prosecution seems to be saying, "Please bring it back so that it can be organized stably within a few days." Sometimes there are cases where the arrest period has elapsed due to the difference of several hours or a day in the investigative agency, so there can be occasional misjudgment in the date and time calculation.

[Anchor]
How many days do you have now?

[Son Jeonghye]
I think February 7th is the deadline. However, from the prosecution's point of view, even if they are given 10 days, they can be prosecuted after reviewing records on the 5th and 4th without spending 10 days, so I think the difference between one and two days is a serious case, so they may not be prosecuted or released due to errors in time judgment.

[Anchor]
February 7th is a total of 20 days when you get an extension of 10 days in the middle. Then, may the application for extension be rejected or not in the middle?

[Son Jeonghye]
That's rarely the case. Since the need for an investigation is recognized and the court also recognizes that the investigation into the suspect is not carried out properly, it is 100% likely to be accepted that the investigation period for the arrest investigation is needed.

[Anchor]
Anyway, the current situation is that President Yoon Suk Yeol is only actively going out to the Constitutional Court's impeachment trial and is turning a blind eye to the investigation of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit. If I go to the prosecution, will I be investigated by the prosecution? What do you think?

[Son Jeonghye]
I think we have to watch that, too. There is a possibility that the president will argue that the investigation is not the subject of the investigation under the Public Offices Act, and that this claim is illegal in the investigation process even after being indicted. If you actively engage in this procedure in the middle while making such claims, the defect in the procedure has healed again. Even if there is such a point, such a claim is not practical because it has been in the investigation process, and there is a possibility of reaching such a judgment, so it may take a similar strategy to avoid the investigation of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit and the prosecution.

However, for now, the next most important procedures for the president are binding pride and bail claims. There are also areas where decisions can be made by ensuring that the arrest suit and bail claims will actively cooperate with the investigation process and actively cooperate with the court process. Therefore, it is very burdensome for the court to release the suspect even though there is no trial and no investigation, so I think it will be disadvantageous to choose this like a double-edged sword, but if I choose this, I think I will actively consult with my lawyers in a multi-faceted situation where it is disadvantageous.

[Anchor]
President Yoon is participating in the impeachment trial while refusing to comply with the actual investigation of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit. Then, can the current situation, for example, not responding to the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit affect the impeachment trial?

[Son Jeonghye]
In normal cases, we judged that former President Park Geun Hye's failure to actively participate in the investigation process and cooperate in the impeachment trial of former President Park Geun Hye was weak in protecting the constitutional order. Therefore, the general public is subject to investigation and is obligated to attend investigation if the investigative agency asks the president to investigate all the things that are constitutional order. This is the constitutional order.

I'm not talking about the big question of whether we respect our existing order or not, but shouldn't we respect the order if we come out for investigation and go get it? From that point of view, showing an unfaithful attitude in the impeachment proceedings is not likely to be beneficial to the president.

[Anchor]
Moving on to the impeachment trial, we have no choice but to pay attention to two questions that Acting President Moon Hyung-bae directly asked the president, one is to drag down lawmakers, whether they ordered them, and the other is whether they handed over budget notes for emergency legislative bodies. In what way are these two important things, so did the question go?

[Son Jeonghye]
It's a crucial part of the crime of rebellion or the act of rebellion and the violation of the Constitution. A member of the National Assembly is a constitutional institution, and the order to arrest without a warrant is not only against warrantism, but it also undermines the independence of the member's status and prevents the member from exercising voting rights, so all of this is a question of whether there has been any suspension of the function of the constitutional institution. I think I should accept that I asked for specific actions, but in the end, I ordered the constitutional institution to be neutralized. If the National Assembly's legislative power to neutralize the constitutional institution is neutralized, there should be an alternative institution.

The plan to establish it under the name of an emergency legislative body and whether there was any order to organize the budget for it is an important question that can be interpreted as an attempt by dictatorship, making it impossible for lawmakers to vote and arbitrarily establish an organization in which the executive authority makes legislative power, so the two questions do not appear as investigative data even though they have to be heard directly from the president. When the judge said he would do a newspaper on the person concerned that day, there was a procedure in which lawyer Cha raised an objection, saying, "Didn't you not expect the newspaper today?"

However, because the evidence investigation process said that the interrogation of the parties was already scheduled for the Constitutional Court and that they could interrogate the parties in the past preparatory period, questions that were not coordinated with each other were immediately raised. So, when the president continues to appear in the future, the burden of answering unannounced questions from the judge in real time may arise. As such, I think the president should also look at various trends in public opinion after attending yesterday's trial.

[Anchor]
President Yoon denied all suspicions and talked about fraudulent elections. So, I didn't have direct evidence, but I said it was a fact check and confirmation. How did you like it?

[Son Jeonghye]
In a way, for those who believe that this fraudulent election exists and those who need to reveal the fraudulent election, there is room for a claim to convince and solidify the legitimacy that the president has declared martial law because there is a part in which he does not accept this claim, but for those who do not have the substance of fraudulent elections or who think that this should be resolved only within the existing system and should not take such extreme measures, there is room to think that the Constitutional Court makes a lot of unfounded claims without substance and evidence. In particular, allegations of fraudulent elections were not first raised, but a number of subjects have been making claims at every election for many years, and there are many cases of investigation by related trials and investigative agencies. Can you present a basis beyond that, that is, beyond the Supreme Court precedent? I think that will be a concern.

[Anchor]
Anyway, President Yoon Suk Yeol is actively going to the Constitutional Court to express his position, so this is also drawing attention. What I'm curious about is how far can the Constitutional Court dig into or look into the facts or the truth because the Constitutional Court is not an investigative agency when these mixed statements are made by these people?

[Son Jeonghye]
All of them have been judges in the legal profession for a long time. Since the logic and experience of evaluating the credibility of a statement are all years of experience in accordance with law and conscience, the assessment of objective facts whether the person is real or lying when there is a statement that contradicts the statement made by the majority of people involved. Second, if it contradicts the statement made by the majority involved, there is a high possibility that we will look at these things in detail, such as who makes more verifiable and consistent claims, third, the motivation to promote through false statements. At the moment, didn't the president claim that if the president ordered me to withdraw the troops deployed to the National Assembly after the National Assembly vote?

The credibility of this statement will be enhanced only when circumstantial evidence, witnesses, and references can be presented. For now, the evidence against it has been presented by the National Assembly, so from the president's point of view, if I had ordered to withdraw, withdraw, withdraw, come in now, there is a possibility that it will remain wherever it is, whether it is a non-phonic phone. Whether it's the minutes, related documents, or your personal cell phone. Wouldn't this increase the credibility of the statement only when it can be actively proved? Or many generals and soldiers under the command of martial law forces are talking about the fact that the military was deployed under the direction of the president and that some kind of dissolution was delayed even after this resolution. In order to impeach this, I think we need to be able to provide objective evidence or even circumstantial evidence.

[Anchor]
Anyway, apart from the conclusion of the investigation, the judges will judge based on the evidence from the impeachment trial in the Constitutional Court itself, so we can look at it like this.

[Son Jeonghye]
It is the judges' role to judge the credibility of the argument. In court, judges who are familiar with cases where many parties claim lies for each other's position will judge whose words are true as related evidence.

[Anchor]
We looked into the investigation of President Yoon. I was with lawyer Son Jung-hye. Thank you.