February 24, 2025
Seoul – The list of politicians allegedly arrested by President Yoon Suk Yeol has been at the President’s Impotence Trial Center this month with whistleblowers at the President’s Impotence Trial Center, which they disclosed as Critical evidence. Hong Jang-Won, one of the 16 witnesses who started Yoon impeachment on January 14, is the only person to be called to the Constitutional Court twice.
As a graduate of the 43rd class of the Korean Military Academy, Hong served as South Korea's top spy, specializing in overseas intelligence and North Korea for more than 30 years.
After serving as a counterterrorism expert on the 707th Special Mission Team, he was a general special forces unit of the Special War Command of the Republic of Korea Army, where he became a black agent of the National Intelligence Agency and steadily rose through his ranks.
After serving as NIS Chief Secretary and Special Adviser for North Korea, Hong revealed that he had left the agency and returned in November 2023, when he was appointed by President Yoon as Deputy Director of the NIS Deputy Minister, in a deputy ministerial position.
Hong appeared again on Thursday after the president's legal team attracted attention to the credibility of his testimony. Hong's testimony on February 4 attracted great attention as he claimed Yoon ordered him to arrest key political figures on the night of a brief martial law on December 3.
“Take this opportunity to surround them (the legislators) all. NIS will get anti-temporary authority, so, for now, please assist the Defense Counterintelligence Command (to do so),” Yoon told him.
Hong's detailed testimony is believed to be the main evidence of Yoon's order to illegally arrest politicians.
Four versions of the memo
Hong Zeng testified that Yoon called him directly that night – Won's lawyer rejected an claim and believed that “there is no reason to call the deputy director directly, not the NIS director.”
But Yoon later admitted that he called for “checking whether Hong is working with the Defense Counter Intelligence Command. The DCC head was Hong's junior in the army, so I called and encouraged him to help them,” Yoon said.
According to Hong, shortly after Yoon called him at 10:53 p.m., he received a call from then-DCC chief Yeo In-Hyong, who listed the names of the people arrested that night.
“'Is he crazy?' I thought, and then I stopped writing on the phone (people's names).
“Lee Jae-Myung, Woo Won-Shik, Han Dong-Hoon, Park Chan-Dae, Cho Kook…” Hong did not hesitate to list the names when Yoon's lawyer asked who they were.
However, NIS director Cho Tae-Yong (Hong's boss) raised strong doubts about the authenticity of the alleged notes in his testimony as witness on February 13.
“I’ve checked the footage of the surveillance camera,” Joe told the court, adding that Hong was in his office when he claimed he was close to Joe’s official residence.
Hong admitted Thursday that there was a “slight mistake” in his memory.
“I thought (where I wrote the note) was an open space in front of the formal residence (NIS director Cho Tae-Yong) (NIS director). … But when I reviewed my memory, I realized that I was arresting me When the list of politicians was written in my office, I wrote a list in my office. ,” he corrected himself.
“But (the two locations) are only three minutes apart… Is it really okay to have the place where I write the list?” Hong asked the court.
Cho also mentioned that there are four different versions of the notes, which suggests the possibility of making.
According to Hong, at the fifth hearing on February 5, his assistant “later copied his record”, which means there are two different versions: the original notes he wrote and he The assistant copied a picture. On the same day.
But on February 13, Cho testified that there were actually four versions, including the third note, and Hong asked his assistant to write again based on the assistant's memory, and the fourth note, his The author he did not. 't specifies that its name is more than the third note.
This prompted Hong to bring a physical copy of the memorandum to court on Thursday, reaffirming his initial argument that “the list exists.”
Yoon's team Bake Hong once recorded the names on paper and attacked his “political motivation” for it, but Hong said he was “curious” about why the DCC tried to arrest politicians.
“This is a list of people that the counterintelligence agencies tried to arrest during the emergency match. I left a note of memory thinking I should at least know the number of people on that list.”
Yoon Kab-Keun, the attorney of Yoon, shot him and asked, “Why remember the list? What are your intentions?”
Hong asked: “Intelligence agencies want to know a variety of information. Do they always need to make sense?”
At the end of Hong's witness review on Thursday, the acting Chief Justice of the Court, Moon Hyung-bae, asked what Hong had to do with Yoon – the focus was on questions about Yoon's claim to appeal to Hong on the evening of December 3, rather than To NIS Chief Cho.
“I serve him with the greatest loyalty.”
Yoon frowned and raised his voice.
“It is problematic to link the appeal between Hong and me to the fake 'arrest politician' and the presidential order to revolt the plot,” Yoon told the court.
Leaving the court, Hong kept a low profile in front of reporters.
“A lot of things happened, the relationship between (the president and me) changed, and I didn't want to judge the people I used to serve so easily. Let's leave it there,” Hong told reporters.
On January 22, Hong appeared at a hearing of the National Assembly's Special Immunition Committee and testified that he “loves the president.”
“I want to do everything he might have to me. But looking at that list (politicians to be arrested), I can't help it. …Isn't it wrong for the Republic of Korea to do this?”
Yoon's impeachment trial is scheduled to hold its finals and its 11th hearing on Tuesday. Both Yoon and the National Assembly, which is prosecuting the trial, will have unlimited time to make the final argument. The final verdict is expected to be lowered around March 11.
