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Choo Kyung-ho, former floor leader of the People Power Party, arrives as a suspect at Special Counsel Cho Eun-seok’s office at the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on October 30. / Source: Yonhap News

The special counsel probing the alleged insurrection moved on November 3 to seek an arrest warrant for Choo Kyung-ho, former floor leader of the People Power Party, on charges of engaging in important duties in an insurrection. It is the first time the team has sought to detain a sitting lawmaker who enjoys parliamentary immunity.

Special Counsel Deputy Park Ji-young said at a briefing, “We requested a warrant for Rep. Choo on the charge of engaging in important duties in an insurrection, taking into account the seriousness of the crime and the risk of evidence destruction.”

Investigators are examining why, in the early hours of December 4 last year, 90 of 108 People Power Party lawmakers failed to take part when the National Assembly voted on a resolution to lift emergency martial law. According to the probe, suspicions arose after former President Yoon Suk Yeol spoke by phone with Choo for about one minute, following which Choo repeatedly changed the venue of an emergency party caucus, allegedly preventing many lawmakers from participating in the vote.

Since August, the team has interviewed PPP lawmakers Cho Kyung-tae and Kim Ye-ji and party officials as reference witnesses. On October 2, they searched Choo’s residence in Gangnam, his parliamentary office in Yeouido, and his district office in Dalseong, Daegu. Choo was then summoned as a suspect on October 30 and questioned through the next morning. The warrant request came four days after that interrogation.

Deputy Park added, “That Rep. Choo received instructions from former President Yoon is included in the statement of facts,” while declining to specify the “content or method” of the alleged directives. On possible collusion with Yoon, Park said, “While we cannot speak in detail, we believe it has been sufficiently substantiated.”

As a sitting lawmaker, Choo is protected from arrest or detention during a parliamentary session without the National Assembly’s consent. A motion to consent to his arrest must pass the plenary with a majority of members present and a majority of those present voting in favor before a court can hold a warrant hearing.