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Rep. Choo Kyung-ho of the People Power Party enters a party meeting at the National Assembly on Aug. 4. He has been named as a suspect in a warrant obtained by the special counsel probing the obstruction of a martial law termination vote. / Source: Yonhap News

The special counsel investigating the alleged obstruction of a parliamentary vote to lift martial law has raided the National Assembly Secretariat, with prosecutors identifying opposition lawmaker Choo Kyung-ho, former floor leader of the People Power Party, as a suspect in the warrant.

According to legal sources on Thursday, the team led by Special Counsel Cho Eun-seok seized CCTV footage and documents from the Secretariat. Deputy Special Counsel Park Ji-young clarified that “the search and seizure was carried out only within the Secretariat.”

The probe centers on events in the early hours of Dec. 4 last year, when lawmakers voted on a resolution to end emergency martial law. Out of 108 People Power Party lawmakers, 90 failed to take part in the vote. Investigators suspect that after a brief one-minute phone call with then-President Yoon Suk-yeol, Choo repeatedly changed the location of an emergency party meeting, preventing many lawmakers from attending the vote.

The special counsel has already questioned several figures as witnesses, including National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, Secretary General Kim Min-ki, Democratic Party lawmakers Baek Hye-ryun, Kim Sang-wook and Kim Sung-hoe, as well as People Power Party lawmakers Cho Kyung-tae and Kim Ye-ji.

Separately, the team summoned Shin Yong-han, former chair professor at Seowon University, for questioning as a witness. Shin recently raised suspicions about links between former Defense Intelligence chief Noh Sang-won and an executive at a family-owned company connected to Kim Keon-hee, the wife of ex-president Yoon.