South Korean investigators urged prosecutors to charge jailed President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived declaration of martial law last month. The country’s ousted defense minister said he wanted a larger military deployment than Yoon.
Yoon again defended his actions when he appeared at a court hearing for the second time on Thursday, saying the Dec. 3 martial law decree was only intended to inform the public about the danger of an opposition-controlled National Assembly. He argued that the declaration of martial law ended prematurely because he quickly withdrew his troops after the assembly rejected his decree.
“The declaration of martial law was not about warning the opposition. I tried to appeal to people to exercise strict supervision and criticism of the opposition,” Yoon said at a hearing at the Constitutional Court. “No matter how many warnings I gave to the opposition, they would have been useless.”
Yoon was charged and suspended by the assembly on December 14. The Constitutional Court is now discussing whether Yoon should be officially thrown out of office or reinstated.
At the same hearing, Kim Yong Hyun, Yoon’s defense minister at the time, supported the president’s argument, saying he drafted the decree and suggested it to Yoon.
Kim, a close associate of Yoon who is also in custody, claimed that Yoon asked him to remove a public curfew from the decree, send a much smaller number of soldiers to the gathering than he had initially suggested, and to prevent troops from carrying live ammunition.
“Yes,” Kim said in response to a question from Yoon’s lawyers about whether the president had rejected the defense minister’s recommendation to mobilize all military units stationed in Seoul.
Kim confirmed that he had also proposed sending some units to the opposition party headquarters and a left-wing pollster.
Kim’s statements could not immediately be independently verified. He had previously stated that the entire responsibility for imposing martial law rested solely with him. A few days after the ill-fated declaration of martial law, he was prevented from attempting suicide while in custody.
Since taking office in 2022, Yoon, a conservative, has faced near-constant tensions with the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which has stymied his agenda and indicted some of his top officials. In his martial law announcement, Yoon called the gathering a “den of criminals” blocking government business and vowed to eliminate “shameless North Korean supporters and anti-state forces.”
The president is 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 chamber and unanimously called for an end to the emergency decree.
Yoon and Kim said his deployment of troops and police was intended to maintain order. However, the opposition and investigative authorities believe they tried to seal off the assembly to prevent lawmakers from repealing his decree and that they planned to arrest some politicians. Yoon and Kim denied this.
Yoon could be seen occasionally nodding at Kim during the statement.
Accused South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was detained and questioned by authorities on Wednesday in connection with a criminal investigation into an uprising. He said he was only cooperating in what he called an illegal investigation to avoid violence. An estimated 3,000 police were stationed at the Yoon presidential compound, bringing wire cutters and ladders.
Earlier on Thursday, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) said that Yoon, in collaboration with Kim and other military commanders, allegedly committed rebellion by staging an “uprising” and attempting 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.
By law, the leader of a rebellion can face life imprisonment or the death penalty. Since his detention by the CIO, Yoon has rebuffed attempts to question him. He argues that the investigation and his detention were unlawful.
“As you know, despite serious allegations nationwide, the suspect has always maintained an uncooperative attitude and resisted criminal proceedings as a rebellion leader,” Lee Jae-seung, deputy chief prosecutor at the CIO, said at a televised news conference.
Yoon’s defense team issued a statement accusing the CIO of “humiliating” Yoon by trying to pressure him into speaking to investigators and violating his human rights by preventing him from speaking to family members to get in touch.
In his first appearance at a Constitutional Court hearing on Tuesday, Yoon denied that he had ordered the military to expel lawmakers from the National Assembly to prevent them from voting. Commanders of military units sent to the gathering have said that Yoon ordered them to withdraw the lawmakers.
Yoon’s martial law decree has shaken South Korean politics and financial markets and damaged his international image. Yoon’s subsequent defiance and the opposition’s push to oust him have also exacerbated South Korea’s already serious internal divisions.
