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Ex-interior minister questioned overnight in martial law probe

Published: 20 Apr. 2025, 18:58 Updated: 20 Apr. 2025, 19:23

Former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min answers questions as a witness during the seventh hearing of the Constitutional Court’s impeachment trial of then-President Yoon Suk Yeol in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 11. [NEWS1]

Former Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min returned home Saturday after an overnight police interrogation over his alleged involvement in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's brief imposition of martial law late last year.

The former minister appeared before a special police investigation team at around 2 p.m. Friday as a suspect in the ongoing probe. He was released about 18 hours later at approximately 7:40 a.m. Saturday.

He is suspected of directing the National Fire Agency to cut off power and water supplies to multiple media outlets critical of the former president following Yoon's martial law declaration on Dec. 3.

Lee reportedly denied the allegations against him. He is said to have spent more than three hours, beginning around 4 a.m., reviewing and making revisions to the official record of his statement.

Investigators are seeking to determine whether the utility disruptions were initially ordered by then President Yoon, and whether Lee carried out those instructions.

The ongoing investigation includes testimony from fire department personnel as well as forensic analysis of materials seized during raids on Lee's home and offices in Seoul and Sejong in February, according to sources familiar with the probe.

Yonhap