KBS obtains list of 104 standby investigative personnel for ‘politician arrest team’

[Anchor]

Shortly after the declaration of emergency martial law, suspicions had risen that the Counterintelligence Command requested the police to prepare 100 investigators, effectively trying to mobilize them as an 'arrest team'.

Police Chief Cho Ji-ho stated that he ignored this request, but KBS's investigation has confirmed that actually, about 80 elite investigators from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency were on standby in their offices.

This is an exclusive report by reporter Choi Hye-rim.

[Report]

On the night of the declaration of emergency martial law on December 3rd.

Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung called Police Chief Cho Ji-ho and requested that 100 police investigators be prepared.

The Counterintelligence Command wanted support for forming a joint investigation headquarters.

Police Chief Cho Ji-ho has been claiming that he ignored the Counterintelligence Command's request.

[Noh Jeong-hwan/Cho Ji-ho's lawyer/Dec. 13: "The dispatching of 100 investigators and the confirmation of location information were all rejected..."]

However, according to KBS's investigation, right after the declaration of martial law, a list of 104 investigators was prepared, and among them, 81 investigators from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Special Investigation Unit were confirmed to have been on standby in their offices.

Essentially, the elite investigative personnel from the Seoul Police were mobilized and on standby.

This emergency standby of investigators occurred at 11:39 PM on the night of the 3rd, one hour after the declaration of emergency martial law.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency had followed the National Investigation Headquarters' instruction to prepare a list of about 100 investigators.

About 40 minutes later, the head of the Special Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency organized the list of investigative personnel and ordered them to remain on standby.

Here is the list of those on standby that KBS has obtained.

The list includes a total of 104 investigators below the rank of inspector, with 20 being dispatched from each of the five investigation teams under the Special Investigation Unit of the Seoul Police.

There were already suspicions that the Counterintelligence Command had requested police investigative personnel support to operate a 'politician arrest team'.

The prosecution's sudden search and seizure of the National Investigation Headquarters on the 19th, including the seizure of the mobile phone of National Investigation Headquarters Chief Woo Jong-soo, seems to be aimed at confirming related circumstances.

Related to this, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency stated that the preparation of the list and the standby order were in response to the 'heightened alert' measures that were implemented at midnight on the 4th.

They also stated that they did not report the standby list of the Special Investigation Unit to the National Investigation Headquarters.

However, the instruction to prepare investigators from the National Investigation Headquarters was given before the heightened alert measures.

This is KBS News, Choi Hye-rim.