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Police detect signs of call log deletion on Yoon's secure phone after martial law

Published: 26 May. 2025, 19:17

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol looks at his supporters as he appears at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul on May 26, 2025, to attend the fifth hearing of a trial over insurrection charges in connection with his declaration of martial law. [YONHAP]

Police have detected signs of some call records of a secure phone held by former President Yoon Suk Yeol being remotely deleted, just days after his failed martial law attempt, an official said Monday.

The records of Yoon's calls with Hong Jang-won, former first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, and Kim Bong-sik, former chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, were deleted on Dec. 6, 2024, three days after Yoon's martial law declaration, according to the official at the police's special investigation team.

Police have since launched an investigation on charges of destruction of evidence, but have yet to narrow down a suspect.

A police official said the Presidential Security Service is believed to have deleted the records, but noted they were looking into who gave the deletion order.

Police detected the signs during their analysis of secure phone server records submitted by the PSS as part of a probe into allegations that PSS officials blocked investigators from executing a detention warrant against Yoon in January.

Police have secured 19 phones, including Yoon's, as part of the investigation.

YONHAP