Former South Korean Defense Minister and Police Officials Arrested

(CLO) Former South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun has been formally arrested on charges of rebellion related to President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law, a court spokesman said Wednesday morning (December 11).

Kim Yong-hyun was formally arrested after a Seoul court approved an arrest warrant for his alleged role in a rebellion and abuse of power. Kim became the first person to be arrested since martial law was imposed on December 3. Rebellion to overthrow the government in South Korea carries a maximum sentence of death.

On the same day, police said that two top South Korean police officers were arrested for their roles in the martial law incident. Specifically, National Police Agency Director General Cho Ji-ho and Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Chief Kim Bong-sik are being held at Seoul's Namdaemun Police Station.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol (left) and then-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun at the Presidential Office in Seoul in September 2024. Photo: DPA

Plan to drag all MPs out of Parliament

The police officials were investigated for their role in deploying police forces to the South Korean National Assembly to prevent lawmakers from entering the National Assembly Building to vote on Yoon's lifting of martial law.

South Korea's National Assembly building was also surrounded by heavily armed troops, which military commanders said were deployed on orders from the former defense minister, to prevent lawmakers from entering or escort them out.

But eventually, enough lawmakers entered the National Assembly hall and unanimously rejected Yoon's decree, forcing the cabinet to rescind it before dawn on December 4.

During a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, Kwak Jong-keun, commander of the Army Special Warfare Command, which sent troops to the parliament, testified that he received direct instructions from Kim Yong-hyun to block lawmakers from entering the main chamber of the National Assembly. Kwak said Kim's instructions were intended to prevent the 300-member parliament from mustering the 150 votes needed to overturn Yoon's martial law order.

National Police Agency Director General Cho Ji-ho (left) and Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Director Kim Bong-sik were arrested. Photo: Yonhap

Kwak said Yoon then called him directly and asked soldiers to “quickly break down the door and pull out the lawmakers inside.” Kwak said he discussed Yoon’s order with the commander at the scene and they concluded that nothing more could be done, ruling out the possibility of threatening lawmakers by firing fake bullets or cutting off the power.

Intended to imprison lawmakers in bunkers

At the hearing, senior officer Kim Dae-woo of the military counterintelligence agency said his commander, Yeo In-hyung, asked him whether an army bunker in Seoul had enough space to detain politicians and other figures after martial law was imposed.

Yeo is considered a close associate of former Minister Kim Yong-hyun. Last week, Hong Jang-won, deputy director of South Korea's spy agency, said Yoon had ordered him to help Yeo detain several political opponents, but that he ignored the president's orders.

Kwak and Yeo are among those facing sedition charges brought by the opposition, along with Yoon and Kim. The South Korean Defense Ministry also suspended them last week.

Serious unconstitutional acts

Opposition parties and many experts say the martial law decree is unconstitutional. They say that by law, the President can only declare martial law in "time of war, warlike situations or other comparable national emergencies" and South Korea is not in such a situation.

They argued that deploying troops to seal off the National Assembly Building to suspend the National Assembly's political activities amounts to rebellion, as the South Korean constitution does not allow the President to use the military to suspend the National Assembly under any circumstances.

In his martial law announcement, Mr. Yoon stressed the need to rebuild the country by eliminating "North Korean sympathizers... and anti-state forces," referring to his political opponents who hold a majority in the South Korean National Assembly.

Since taking office in 2022, Mr. Yoon has been at near-constant odds with the opposition Democratic Party, which has moved to impeach several of his senior officials and launched a political offensive over scandals involving him and his wife.

Hoang Anh (according to Yonhap, AFP, SCMP)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/cuu-bo-truong-quoc-phong-han-quoc-va-cac-quan-chuc-bi-bat-ke-ve-nhung-tinh-tiet-dang-so-post325065.html