▲ Lee Eun-woo, former head of public broadcaster KTV, arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in the capital on May 21, 2026, to attend his arrest warrant hearing. (Yonhap)

ex-KTV chief-arrest warrant

Ex-KTV chief attends arrest warrant hearing over alleged insurrection propaganda

SEOUL, May 21 (Yonhap) -- Lee Eun-woo, former head of public broadcaster KTV, appeared at a court Thursday for a hearing on his potential arrest over allegations that he promoted insurrection in connection with former President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law imposition in 2024.

Lee arrived at the Seoul Central District Court at 9:16 a.m. ahead of his arrest warrant hearing that began at 10 a.m.

Lee is accused of directing KTV to repeatedly broadcast reports asserting the legitimacy of Yoon's martial law for about 10 days after its Dec. 3, 2024, declaration, while suppressing and deleting reports critical of the emergency measure.

KTV is run by the Korea Policy Broadcasting Service, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The second comprehensive special counsel team led by Kwon Chang-young requested an arrest warrant for Lee on Monday on charges of propaganda for insurrection. It marked the first attempt by Kwon's team to secure custody of a suspect since its inauguration in February.

Lee was separately indicted by another special counsel team led by Cho Eun-suk last December and is now standing trial on charges of abuse of authority for allegedly ordering the removal of broadcast captions featuring politicians' remarks that described the martial law declaration as illegal and unconstitutional.

At that time, Cho's team cleared Lee of insurrection propaganda charges, judging that the alleged offense occurred after the lifting of martial law and that excessive punishment could stifle freedom of the press.

Cho's team has demanded a five-year prison term for Lee, with the sentencing hearing set for June 26.

Against this backdrop, some legal experts argue that Kwon's team's request for an arrest warrant could amount to a form of "double indictment," as it involves reinvestigating a case that has already led to an indictment.

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