Former DSC chief behind martial law plan released on bail

Cho Hyun-chun, center, a former head of the now-defunct Defense Security Command, is transferred to Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office on March 28. [YONHAP]

A military official who was allegedly behind a 2017 plan to impose martial law was released on bail on Wednesday.

Cho Hyun-chun, 64-year-old former chief of the now-abolished Defense Security Command (DSC), is under suspicion of drawing up a plan in February 2017 to forcibly suppress protests calling for then-President Park Geun-hye’s removal from office by illegally declaring martial law.

The Seoul Western District Court granted the former military commander bail on the condition that he sign a statement that he would not seek to destroy or suppress evidence, appear in court on designated dates, and accept restrictions on his movements within the country.

His bail was set at 50 million won ($38,260).

Cho’s release on bail comes three months after he was detained upon his return to Korea to face prosecutors investigating his role in the alleged plan to declare martial law.

The plan was reported to then-Defense Minister Han Min-koo before the Constitutional Court made a ruling removing Park from office in March of that year.

The Center for Military Human Rights revealed the plan’s existence in July 2018 after receiving a tip-off from an unnamed whistleblower, but Cho had already retired from his post and departed for the United States seven months prior.

Although a joint military-civilian investigation obtained an indictment against Cho in September 2018, it was suspended two months later as his movements following his departure remained unknown.

Cho remained abroad for a total of five years and three months before voluntarily returning to Korea.

Cho told reporters when he returned that he came back “to help reveal the truth behind the martial law draft as the person responsible for it and take responsibility,” adding that he hoped to “clarify the true nature of the martial law draft through the prosecutors’ investigation and alleviate people’s suspicions.”

But Cho denied having any intention to flee by staying abroad, claiming he simply delayed his return.

Others involved in the case have thus far been acquitted or denied involvement in a conspiracy to suppress the protests by declaring martial law.

Soh Gang-won, a former DSC chief of staff, and another DSC officer Gi Woo-jin were acquitted by a military court in December 2019 of charges that they drafted a crackdown plan on Cho’s orders.

Soh and Gi are currently undergoing an appeals trial in a civilian court.

Former Defense Minister Han and former National Security Director Kim Kwan-jin have also denied involvement in the drafting of plans to declare martial law at the height of the protests against Park.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]