Choo Kyung-ho, a lawmaker for the conservative Folks Energy Occasion, greets supporters after being launched from the Seoul Detention Middle in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, on Dec. 3, 2025, after a courtroom rejected a request for a warrant for his arrest. (Yonhap)
A courtroom on Wednesday morning rejected a request for a warrant to arrest Choo Kyung-ho, a Folks Energy Occasion lawmaker accused of obstructing the Nationwide Meeting’s vote to rescind martial regulation after it was imposed on Dec. 3, 2024, by Yoon Suk-yeol, the president of South Korea on the time.
That is the newest setback for the unbiased investigation into final yr’s martial regulation disaster by particular counsel Cho Eun-seok, after he and his crew of investigators didn’t safe detention warrants for former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn.
With courts denying detention warrants for these three figures, it’s probably that Cho will indict them with out detention.
Decide Lee Jeong-jae of the Seoul Central District Court docket performed the interrogation of Choo as a part of the method for screening the warrant request.
The choose cited the potential for disagreement relating to the fees and authorized ideas concerned for his determination to disclaim the warrant.
“It’s due to this fact prudent to impose the right disciplinary actions in response to a simply judgment that follows a radical and trustworthy judicial course of,” Lee stated.
“There’s a want for the defendant to obtain authorized counsel and due course of whereas being freed from detention. Contemplating the defendant’s residence, previous conduct, the investigative course of up to now, and the defendant’s demonstrated willingness to look for questioning, it’s tough to quote considerations about the opportunity of the defendant fleeing or destroying proof,” he added.
“It’s tough to justify detention beneath the present circumstances,” Lee stated.
Choo, who was being held on the Seoul Detention Middle following his interrogation by the Seoul Central District Court docket, was launched instantly after the courtroom’s determination.
Choo’s questioning started at 3 pm on Tuesday and concerned a fierce debate between the particular counsel crew and Choo’s attorneys relating to the lawmaker’s alleged interference within the Nationwide Meeting’s vote to rescind martial regulation.
The particular counsel crew argues that Choo, who was the PPP ground chief on the time, deliberately modified the placement of an emergency social gathering assembly in an effort to impede the vote to rescind martial regulation.
That evening, Choo modified the placement for his social gathering’s gathering thrice — first telling them to assemble on the Nationwide Meeting earlier than switching the placement to the social gathering headquarters just a few blocks away, then flip-flopping twice extra — a transfer that investigators say prompted confusion amongst lawmakers who had already arrived on the legislature and thus interfered with their train of their votes. Out of 108 PPP lawmakers on the time, solely 18 participated within the vote to raise martial regulation.
The particular counsel probe, particularly, alleged that Choo deliberately sought to impede the vote that evening. At 12:01 am on Dec. 4, 2024, the Nationwide Meeting’s administration assist division despatched a discover to lawmakers over textual content within the identify of Speaker Woo Gained-shik asking representatives to assemble within the plenary chamber. However minutes later, at 12:03, Choo despatched a message to PPP lawmakers telling them to assemble on the third ground of the social gathering’s headquarters in Yeouido.
In the course of the warrant evaluate listening to on Tuesday, six prosecutors with the particular counsel probe submitted a 618-page opinion and used a 304-slide presentation to underscore the necessity to take Choo into custody.
Choo’s representatives denied the allegations, saying that the previous ground chief had merely modified the placement for the lawmakers to convene on account of the dearth of entry to the Nationwide Meeting, and that he had no intention by any means of obstructing the vote. Choo’s crew argued that the lawmaker had requested fellow social gathering members to fulfill on the social gathering’s headquarters as a “non permanent rendezvous level” for lawmakers who couldn’t enter the legislature as a result of police cordon.
The courtroom accepted this argument and dismissed the warrant request.
“We respect the courtroom’s determination, however we can not agree with it,” the particular counsel crew stated of the ruling.
“Choo noticed along with his personal eyes that the Nationwide Meeting was beneath siege by armed troopers and that extraordinary Koreans had been protesting this and confronting these troopers,” the crew stated. “Because the chief of the ruling social gathering, he didn’t take any form of actions to make sure the protection of residents concerned on this standoff, nor did he try to safeguard the constitutional order.”
The crew stated it could transfer shortly to indict Choo in order to make sure that he’s given “correct punishment” in a courtroom of regulation. The particular counsel’s interval of investigation will terminate on Dec. 14.
By Kang Jae-gu, workers reporter
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