Former NIS Director Cho Tae-yong attends his detention review. Yonhap News. 

Cho Tae-yong, former Director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), who was detained by the special prosecutor's team investigating sedition, requested the court to re-examine the legality of his detention, but his request was not granted.

The Seoul Central District Court held a detention review hearing for the former NIS director, who was arrested on charges of dereliction of duty and violation of the NIS Act on political neutrality, and dismissed his appeal on the 17th.

The court is understood to have ruled that the special prosecutor's detention warrant was lawfully issued and that continued investigation while in detention was necessary, considering the risk of evidence tampering.

Cho's legal team argued that the 'risk of evidence tampering,' which is grounds for detention, was nonexistent as the special prosecutor's team had already secured most of the key evidence through searches and interviews with related individuals, and that the charges themselves were debatable. However, the court did not accept these arguments.

It also appears the court found it difficult to accept the argument that Cho's health had deteriorated to the point where detention was difficult.

Reports indicate that the special prosecutor's team submitted a 135-page opinion brief during the review hearing, emphasizing the legality of the detention investigation, including concerns about evidence tampering.

Previously, the special prosecutor's team had requested a detention warrant on the 7th, alleging that Cho derelicted his duty as NIS Director by failing to inform the National Assembly after receiving a report from former NIS First Deputy Director Hong Jang-won stating that "martial law troops were hunting for Lee Jae-myung and Han Dong-hoon" following the declaration of martial law.

On the 12th, Judge Park Jung-ho of the Seoul Central District Court, who handles warrant applications, issued the warrant after a pre-arrest interrogation, stating, "There is a concern of evidence tampering."

He is also accused of violating the NIS Act's prohibition on political intervention by prioritizing the provision of NIS closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage showing the movements of former Deputy Director Hong during martial law to the People Power Party, while withholding footage of his own movements from the Democratic Party of Korea.

Cho is also suspected of giving false testimony to the National Assembly and the Constitutional Court, and submitting false written responses to the National Assembly's ad-hoc committee for investigating the facts of the sedition allegations.

He is also accused of tampering with evidence by participating in the deletion of information from the encrypted phones of former President Yoon and former Deputy Director Hong. After former Deputy Director Hong released call records with former President Yoon, a call was made between Cho and former Presidential Security Service Director Park Jong-joon, after which the encrypted phone records were deleted.

Yonhap News