The Seoul Central District Court has rejected the arrest warrant sought against Lee Eun-woo, former head of public broadcaster KTV, citing insufficient grounds for the charges of promoting insurrection. The court also noted a lack of evidence suggesting any risk of flight or destruction of evidence by Lee.
Lee stands accused of instructing KTV to repeatedly broadcast reports asserting the legitimacy of Yoon’s martial law for approximately 10 days following its December 3, 2024, declaration. Concurrently, he is alleged to have suppressed and deleted reports critical of the emergency measure.
Earlier in the day, Lee arrived at the Seoul Central District Court to attend his arrest warrant hearing, which was scheduled for 10 a.m.
KTV operates under the Korea Policy Broadcasting Service, an entity affiliated with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The second comprehensive special counsel team, led by Kwon Chang-young, had requested the arrest warrant for Lee on Monday, based on charges of propaganda for insurrection. This marked the first attempt by Kwon’s team to secure the custody of a suspect since its inauguration in February.
Separately, Lee was indicted last December by another special counsel team, headed by Cho Eun-suk. He is currently on trial facing charges of abuse of authority, specifically for allegedly ordering the removal of broadcast captions that featured politicians’ remarks describing the martial law declaration as illegal and unconstitutional.
At that time, Cho’s team had cleared Lee of insurrection propaganda charges, concluding that the alleged offense occurred after the lifting of martial law and that excessive punishment could unduly stifle freedom of the press.
Cho’s team has requested a five-year prison term for Lee, with the sentencing hearing for this case scheduled for June 26.
Against this intricate legal backdrop, some legal experts contend that Kwon’s team’s request for an arrest warrant could be viewed as a form of “double indictment.” This argument stems from the fact that it involves reinvestigating a case for which an indictment has already been made.
Meanwhile, the special counsel team stated its intention to thoroughly review the court’s reasoning behind Thursday’s decision before determining whether to pursue another warrant.
