Soldiers entered, photographed election commission's data centers amid martial law fiasco

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Soldiers entered, photographed election commission's data centers amid martial law fiasco

Published: 09 Dec. 2024, 17:18

MICHAEL LEE
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Footage from the surveillance cameras at the National Election Commission's headquarters shows soldiers taking photos of the commission's data servers on Dec. 3. [NATIONAL ASSEMBLY]

Soldiers from the Defense Intelligence Command were involved in an apparent attempt to collect data from the National Election Commission's (NEC) headquarters during President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived imposition of martial law last week, military sources told the JoongAng Ilbo over the weekend.

According to multiple military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, soldiers from the command were recorded on surveillance cameras entering the NEC’s data server unit at around 10:31 p.m. on Dec. 3.

In the footage, an officer dressed in the uniform of an Army colonel and one other soldier can be seen entering the NEC’s server room and taking pictures.

In their comments to the JoongAng Ilbo, military officials said that the investigation into the Defense Intelligence Command is still ongoing, but confirmed the soldiers’ affiliation with the agency, which is usually charged with gathering foreign intelligence.

A Defense Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Maj. Gen. Moon Sang-ho, chief of the Defense Intelligence Command, has not yet been suspended from his duties over the incident.

As the Defense Intelligence Command is an agency under the direct control of the Defense Ministry, the intrusion has raised suspicions that former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun ordered their deployment to the NEC’s headquarters.

Kim resigned from his post on Thursday over his alleged involvement in the president’s brief declaration of martial law. He was taken into custody on Sunday after being questioned by prosecutors.

The former defense minister has been accused by the liberal Democratic Party of recommending the imposition of martial law to President Yoon.

In earlier comments, Kim said that soldiers were ordered to take over the NEC to collect data to shed light on allegations of election irregularities, suggesting that the president saw the matter as one of great interest.

According to the timestamp on the footage, the soldiers entered the NEC only two minutes after President Yoon announced emergency martial law, which observers view as circumstantial evidence that the defense minister and other military officials were able to deploy troops with advance notice of the decree.

The footage of their entry into the NEC’s headquarters also contradicts media comments by Lt. Gen. Yeo In-hyung, chief of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, that military personnel were only dispatched to the National Assembly and the NEC at 1 a.m. on Dec. 4 and did not actually enter the commission’s headquarters.

BY LEE KEUN-PYUNG, LEE YU-JEONG AND MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]