▲ This file photo, taken Nov. 18, 2025, shows former National Intelligence Service Director Cho Tae-yong arriving at the office of special counsel Lee Myeong-hyeon, investigating the 2023 death of a Marine, in southern Seoul. (Yonhap)

ex-NIS chief-martial law probe

Ex-NIS chief grilled over suspected martial law role

GWACHEON, South Korea, June 1 (Yonhap) -- Cho Tae-yong, a former head of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), appeared before a special counsel team Monday over allegations linked to former President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed 2024 martial law bid.

Cho is accused of playing a key role in an insurrection by allegedly attempting to contact U.S. intelligence agencies after Yoon's martial law declaration on Dec. 3, 2024, to deliver a message justifying the emergency decree.

The special counsel team believes the NIS received a document from the presidential Office of National Security a day after Yoon's declaration along with a request to explain the background of his decree to friendly countries.

It suspects that NIS officials called in a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency official to explain the emergency measure at Cho's instructions.

Last month, a Seoul district court sentenced Cho to 18 months in prison, finding him guilty of perjury for falsely testifying at the Constitutional Court that he did not receive martial law-related documents from Yoon.

Yoon was sentenced to life imprisonment in February for leading an insurrection through his failed martial law bid, which lasted only hours before the National Assembly voted to lift it.

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