Investigators Say South Korean President’s Bodyguard Requested ChatGPT About ‘Martial Regulation’ Hours Earlier than Coup

Prosecutors in South Korea have accused a Presidential bodyguard of asking ChatGPT about “martial regulation,” “declaration of martial regulation,” and “dissolution of the Nationwide Meeting” on December 3, 2024. In keeping with the courts, Lee Kwang-woo—head bodyguard of South Korea’s Presidential Safety Service—requested the chatbot these questions two hours earlier than President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial regulation, suggesting that Lee had an thought of what Yoon was as much as.

South Korea’s Presidential Safety Service (PSS) has been on the heart of controversy and authorized bother since Yoon’s transient try and impose martial regulation on the finish of final yr. Yoon’s “self-coup” solely lasted about six hours however the penalties lasted months. Yoon has been impeached, arrested and launched, and is ready to see if the courts will take away him from workplace.

Getting Yoon into the courtroom had been troublesome. The PSS is just like America’s Secret Service, however extra akin to the Roman Praetorian Guard. It was as soon as one of the vital powerful agencies within the nation and is loyal to the workplace of the president. After the martial regulation declaration, Yoon retreated to a compound in central Seoul. The PSS arrange a cordon of 200 troops and 10 buses that rebuffed attempts by prosecutors to arrest Yoon.

Lee, in addition to being a ChatGPT-enjoyer, is the pinnacle of the PSS’s bodyguard division. The second time prosecutors tried to arrest Yoon in January, he steered that the PSS may dissuade them with gunfire. Lee complied. In keeping with the South China Morning Post, Lee instructed his staff to arm themselves with MP7s. “If the secondary gate is breached, run out with the submachine weapons,” he allegedly instructed them. However no bullets had been fired and prosecutors served the warrant and arrested Yoon.

Lee and others within the PSS have been tied up within the impeachment proceedings. Lee was going through obstruction of justice costs associated to his safety of the President and the potential deletion of digital data associated to the case. And it’s in these data that investigators allegedly discovered him asking ChatGPT some bizarre questions on December 3, 2024.

In keeping with the South Korean day by day newspaper The Hankyoreh, Lee requested the AI what would occur if Yoon declared martial regulation and he did it at 8:30 p.m., two hours earlier than Yoon introduced his plan. Lee’s lawyer stated that prosecutors had screwed up the digital forensics. He didn’t deny that Lee had requested the AI about martial regulation, simply that it occurred after Yoon had declared it.

If Lee carried out the ChatGPT search earlier than the declaration it will imply he knew his boss’s plans. As the assorted trials across the night time of December 3 proceed, it’s necessary for prosecutors and the general public to study who knew what and when. Did Lee collude with Yoon or did he simply react to his boss’s plot? His interactions with ChatGPT would possibly maintain the reply.

The Hankyoreh additionally reported at present that the courtroom dismissed some of the obstruction costs in opposition to Lee and different members of the PSS.