South Korean police make arrests, searches for martial law – The National
of South Korea The previous defense minister was stopped from trying to commit suicide while in prison last week martial law President Yoon Suk-yeol’s office resisted police attempts to search the building, authorities said Wednesday.
The main liberal opposition Democratic Party is making a new motion to impeach Yoon over his Dec. 3 decree that imposed martial law in the country. South Korea for the first time in over four decades.
Last Saturday, the first impeachment attempt against Yoon failed after ruling party lawmakers boycotted the vote. The party said it plans to present a new proposal on Thursday to hold Saturday’s vote.
Yoon’s ill-conceived power grab paralyzed South Korean politics, froze its foreign policy and rattled financial markets. On Wednesday, rival North Korea’s state media first reported the border disturbance, but the country did not report any suspicious activity.
Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun tried to kill himself last night in a detention center in Seoul, Korea Correctional Service Chief Commissioner Shin Yong-hae told lawmakers. He said that the staff of the penitentiary facility detained him and that his condition is stable.
Kim was arrested by prosecutors early Wednesday on charges of masterminding the rebellion and abuse of office. He became the first official to be arrested under martial law.
Kim, one of Yoon’s close associates, is accused of recommending martial law to Yoon and sending troops to the National Assembly to prevent lawmakers from voting on it. Enough lawmakers eventually made it into the lower house of parliament, and they unanimously rejected Yoon’s decree, forcing the Cabinet to rescind it before dawn on December 4.
Kim said in a statement on Tuesday that he “profoundly apologizes for causing significant concern” to the public. He said he was responsible for the imposition of martial law and asked for concessions to soldiers deployed to enforce it.
Prosecutors have up to 20 days to decide whether to charge Kim.
Yoon’s office interferes with the search of the presidential compound
On Wednesday, police detained National Police Agency Commissioner General Cho Ji-ho and Seoul Metropolitan Police Chief Kim Bong-sik. They were accused of deploying police forces in parliament to prevent MPs from voting.
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The main focus of the investigation is whether Yoon, Kim and others involved in the imposition of martial law rebelled. The charge of rebellion carries the maximum penalty of death.
South Korean police said they sent officers to search Yoon’s office on Wednesday to look for any evidence of the imposition of martial law. Senior police officer Lee Ho-yong told parliament that investigators were unable to enter the office on Tuesday, nearly six hours after their arrival.
Some observers had previously said that presidential security would not allow a search of Yoon’s office, citing a law that prohibits searches of sites containing state secrets without the consent of officials in charge of those areas.
Yoon apologized for the martial law on Saturday and said he would not avoid legal or political responsibility for it. He said he would leave it up to his party to chart a course amid political turmoil in the country, “including issues related to my tenure.”
The leader of Yoon’s ruling party later vowed to arrange a smooth exit for the president, saying the party would coordinate with Cabinet members on state affairs and that Yoon would be removed from office.
The comments have been criticized as unrealistic and unconstitutional and have raised broad questions about who leads South Korea and its military at a time of heightened tensions with North Korea. On Tuesday, the Justice Ministry barred Yoon from leaving the country as he faces investigations.
Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho reiterated on Wednesday that Yoon remains in charge of the military. But since the lifting of martial law, Yoon has not engaged in any major official activities other than accepting the resignations of officials involved in the martial law case and appointing the head of the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
An article published by North Korea’s state-run news agency on Wednesday reported the political chaos in South Korea and the protests triggered by Yoon’s martial law order. Although the report called Yoon a “traitor” and his military “thugs”, it mainly tried to explain the events of South Korea.
Many experts say that North Korea is vulnerable to news of large anti-government protests in foreign countries spreading domestically because its own people do not have official access to international news and can be influenced by such events. The US-South Korea alliance remains “ironclad” and Washington is committed to the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula, the US State Department said on Monday.
Yoon, a conservative, stressed the need to rebuild the country by eliminating “brazen North Korean followers and anti-state forces” in his martial law declaration, referring to his liberal opponents who control parliament. Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has been at near-constant friction with the Democratic Party, which has introduced impeachment proposals for some top officials and launched a political attack over scandals involving Yoon and his wife.
Opposition parties and many experts say the martial law is unconstitutional. They say the president can legally declare martial law only in times of war or similar emergencies, but South Korea was not in such a predicament. They argue that sending troops to stop the political activities of the National Assembly is tantamount to rebellion because the constitution does not allow the president to use the army to stop the parliament in any situation.
If Yoon is impeached, his presidency will be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to reinstate him or remove him from office. If he is removed from office, new presidential elections will be required.
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