South Korea: Special counsel raids homes, offices of ex-PPP floor leader in martial law probe

Seoul, Sep 2 (IANS) A South Korean's special counsel team on Tuesday raided the homes and offices of Rep. Choo Kyung-ho of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) over his alleged involvement in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched martial law bid in December when he served as the party's floor leader.

Special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team carried out the search and seizure at Choo's homes and offices in Seoul and Daegu, where his constituency is located, over allegations that he obstructed his party's lawmakers from attending a parliamentary vote to lift the martial law decree.

The team is looking into allegations that Choo changed the venue for an emergency general meeting of the PPP's lawmakers multiple times on the night of Yoon's declaration on December 3 at the former president's request.

Due to the changes, many PPP lawmakers were unable to participate in the vote, and the National Assembly ended up passing a motion to repeal Yoon's decree early the next morning, with only 18 of the PPP's 108 lawmakers present.

Cho's team has secured records of Choo calling Yoon by phone shortly after his declaration. Choo reportedly called Hong Chul-ho, a senior presidential aide at the time, and then Prime Minister Han Duck-soo before his call with Yoon.

"Questioning into what was discussed between Han and Choo has been conducted," assistant special counsel Park Ji-young said in a briefing. "As confirmation is needed on the facts, further questioning is required."

Tuesday's raids also included those against the offices of the PPP's floor leader and Rep. Cho Ji-yeon, who was with Choo at the floor leader's office when the parliamentary vote to lift the decree took place.

Choo's side has maintained that he was unaware of Yoon's plan to declare martial law in advance and that he did not discuss obstructing lawmakers from taking part in the vote with the former president, Yonhap news agency reported.

Regarding the changes in the venue for the emergency meeting, his side has blamed misunderstanding with the party leader's office at the time and entry restrictions to the National Assembly where martial law forces had been deployed.

Cho's team is expected to call in Choo soon to question him about the allegations.

--IANS

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