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Yoon wanted double the amount of soldiers deployed on night of martial law

Published: 20 Dec. 2024, 14:36

LEE SOO-JUNG
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President Yoon Suk Yeol, center, waves his hand during a military parade held at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi on Oct. 1. Then-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, left, is also seen. [NEWS1]

Just minutes after lawmakers unanimously voted to lift President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law in the early hours of Dec. 4, in an underground bunker Yoon complained that "at least 1,000 soldiers should have been deployed at the National Assembly," almost double the actual number that were deployed.

According to a report from the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, Yoon and four key defense officers gathered at a situation room located inside an underground bunker at the headquarters of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in Yongsan in central Seoul at around 1:20 a.m. on Dec. 4. — about 20 minutes after the parliament voted against the martial law.

Including Yoon, ex-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Park An-su, who was named as martial law commander, Yin Sung-hwan, a second deputy director of the presidential National Security Office (NSO) and Choi Byung-ok, a defense secretary at the NSO were present at the underground bunker meeting.

The JoongAng Ilbo reported that the ambiance inside the situation room was gloomy.

When ex-Defense Minister Kim said around 500 military personnel were dispatched to the National Assembly, Yoon allegedly said, “I told you, [that size of troops] would be insufficient. At least 1,000 soldiers should have been sent.”

According to parliament's data cited by another report from the JoongAng Ilbo, approximately 685 military soldiers — 197 from the 707th Special Mission Group, 277 from the 1st Airborne Special Forces Brigade and 211 from the Capital Defense Command — were deployed to the parliament building.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) has obtained the abovementioned statements about the secretive bunker meeting through rounds of questioning of military officers. The prosecution and police referred Yoon’s martial law case to the CIO earlier this week.

Martial law forces enter the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul on Dec. 4. [YONHAP]

Statements from military officials appeared to be contradictory to Yoon’s public address on Dec. 12, in which he stated that “small-scale army forces were mobilized to maintain public order in case people scramble to the parliament […] and to raise awareness on the opposition party’s calamitous behavior symbolically.”

During his address, Yoon noted it was “evident” that the deployment of military forces was “not intended to dissolve the National Assembly nor to paralyze the parliamentary functions.”

After mentioning the number of 1,000 soldiers, Yoon reportedly reviewed a statute book of the National Assembly Act and ordered ex-Defense Minister Kim and Park to remain in the situation room, asking two NSO officers to leave.

National Security Adviser Shin Won-sik and Chung Jin-suk, Yoon’s chief of staff, also arrived at the JCS headquarters when the two NSO officers left the situation room. Shin and Chung seemingly stayed at the JCS to escort Yoon.

On Dec. 12, a senior presidential official told reporters that the presence of NSO officers at the JCS was standard, further claiming Shin and Chung stayed at the JCS for several minutes to escort Yoon to lift the martial law — which was decided at around 4:30 a.m. on Dec. 4 at a Cabinet meeting at the Yongsan presidential office.

The JoongAng Ilbo reported that key suspects, who were arrested on charges of playing key roles in plotting or commanding an insurrection, shared statements supporting the idea that Yoon was a leader in imposing martial law.

Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-geun, head of the Special Warfare Command speaks at the National Assembly in western Seoul on Dec. 10. [YONHAP]

During a parliamentary questioning session on Dec. 10, Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-geun, head of the Special Warfare Command who was arrested on Monday, said Yoon called him “directly using his secret phone and ordered to drag out people [inside the parliamentary chamber] as quorum appeared to have not been reached yet.”

National Police Agency Commissioner Cho Ji-ho also stated that Yoon called him six times on the night of the declaration of martial law and instructed him to “arrest lawmakers as they violated the martial law decree.”

Yet, Yoon’s main lawyer and close acquaintance, Seok Dong-hyeon, denied that the president had ordered the military to arrest his political opponents or drag lawmakers out of the National Assembly, noting Yoon is a jurist. “I have heard that Yoon had never used expressions such as ‘arrest’ or ‘drag out.’”

BY KIM JUNG-MIN, LEE SOO-JUNG [[email protected]]