▲ Lee Eun-woo, former head of public broadcaster KTV (Yonhap)
▲ This undated file photo shows Heo Suk-gon, former head of the National Fire Agency. (Yonhap)

(ATTN: UPDATES with ex-fire chief's indictment in last 3 paras; ADDS photo)

SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Yonhap) -- A special counsel team said Tuesday Lee Eun-woo, former head of public broadcaster KTV, was referred to trial over allegations that he promoted insurrection in connection with former President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law imposition in 2024.

The team of special counsel Kwon Chang-young announced that it indicted Lee without detention on charges of insurrection propaganda under the Criminal Act.

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

Article 90 of the Criminal Act stipulates that a person who incites or propagates the commission of insurrection shall be punished with imprisonment for three years or more.

Kwon's team has defined the end of the alleged insurrection not as Dec. 4, 2024, when the martial law was lifted, but as Dec. 14, 2024, when the impeachment motion against Yoon was passed by the National Assembly.

Lee has already been on trial after being separately indicted by special counsel Cho Eun-suk in December on charges of censoring content critical of Yoon's martial law imposition. At that time, Cho's team cleared Lee of insurrection propaganda charges. He was sentenced to a suspended prison term of one year in June.

Kwon's team sought an arrest warrant for Lee in May on charges of insurrection propaganda, but a court rejected the request, saying there was room for dispute over the charges.

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

Separately, Kwon's team also indicted Heo Suk-gon, former head of the National Fire Agency, on charges of playing a key role in an insurrection over his involvement in Yoon's martial law bid.

Heo is accused of passing along Interior Minister Lee Sang-min's orders to cut off power and water to media outlets critical of Yoon following the former president's declaration of martial law.

The former interior minister was sentenced to nine years in prison in May after an appellate court found him guilty of playing a key role in an insurrection for giving orders to cut off water and power. He has appealed the ruling.

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