South Korea’s acting defense minister testifies that he wants a more expansive battlefield than the president
South Korean investigators have asked prosecutors to indict President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived imposition of martial law last month, which the country’s defense minister testified was that he wanted a wider military deployment from Yoon.
Yoon again defended his actions during his second court hearing, saying the Dec. 3 martial law decree was meant to inform the public of the danger of the National Assembly being under surveillance. He claimed that the imposition of martial law ended early because he quickly withdrew the troops after the Assembly voted its editor.
“The reason for the martial law declaration was not to warn the opposition. I was trying to appeal to the people to attract their strict supervision and criticism of the opposition,” Yoon said at a hearing at the Constitutional Court. “No matter how many warnings he gave to the opposition, they would be useless.”
Yoon was relieved and suspended by the Assembly on December 14. The Constitutional Court is now deliberating to determine whether to formally remove Yoon from office or reinstate him.
Appearing at the same hearing, Yoon’s defense minister at the time of martial law, Kim Yong Hyun, supported the president’s argument, saying he drew the decree and proposed it to Yoon.
Kim, a close aide of Yoon who is also in custody, claimed that Yoon asked him to remove the public police penalty from the decree, deploy far fewer troops to the assembly than he initially proposed and prevent troops from carrying live ammunition.
“Yes,” Kim replied, when asked by Yoon’s lawyers whether the president overruled the defense minister’s recommendation to mobilize all military units stationed in Seoul.
Kim confirmed that he also suggested sending some units to the opposition party headquarters and a leftist polling company.
Kim’s statements could not immediately be independently verified. Earlier, he said that all responsibility for imposing martial law rests with him alone. He stopped trying to commit suicide while in custody, days after the ill-fated enactment of martial law.
Since taking office in 2022, Yoon, a conservative, has faced near-constant friction with the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which has obstructed his agenda and inserted some of its top officials. In his martial law announcement, Yoon called the Assembly a “bucket of criminals” who ran into state affairs and vowed to remove “shameless North Korean followers and anti-state forces.”
The president was accused of abuse of power
Yoon’s martial law, the first of its kind in South Korea in more than 40 years, lasted just six hours. Yoon sent troops and police into the National Assembly, but enough lawmakers managed to enter the assembly and called for an end to the emergency decree in a unanimous vote.
Yoon and Kim said his deployment of troops and police forces was designed to maintain order. But opposition and investigative authorities believe they tried to seal off the Assembly to prevent lawmakers from repealing his decree and plan to detain some politicians. Yoon and Kim denied this.
Yoon could see the occasional nod from Kim during the testimony.
Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested and questioned by authorities on Wednesday in connection with an investigation into a criminal organization. He said he was only cooperating with what he called an illegal probe to avoid violence. An estimated 3,000 police officers were deployed to Yoon’s presidential compound and brought wire cutters and ladders.
Earlier on Thursday, the Corruption Perceptions Office (CIO) said Yoon, in collaboration with Kim and other military commanders, allegedly committed rebellion by creating “riots” and trying to undermine the Constitution when he declared martial law. The CIO also accused Yoon of abusing his power by mobilizing troops for an illegitimate purpose and obstructing Parliament’s right to vote on ending martial law.
Under the law, the leader of the rebellion could face life in prison or the death penalty. Since being detained by the CIO, Yoon has rebuffed efforts to question him. He claims that the investigation and his detention are illegal.
“As you know, despite facing a nationally serious charge as a leader of the rebellion, the suspect has continuously maintained a non-operational attitude and defied criminal court proceedings,” Lee Jae-Seung, deputy chief prosecutor at the CIO, said in a televised briefing.
Yoon’s defense team issued a statement accusing the CIO of “humiliating” Yoon by trying to pressure him to talk to investigators and abusing his human rights by preventing him from contacting family members.
In his first appearance at a Constitutional Court hearing on Tuesday, Yoon denied ordering the military to withdraw lawmakers from the National Assembly to prevent them from voting. Commanders of military units sent to the Assembly testified that Yoon ordered them to extract the lawmakers.
Yoon’s martial law decree shook South Korean politics and financial markets and hurt its international image. Yoon’s subsequent defiance and the opposition’s push to oust him also exacerbated South Korea’s already severe internal division.
