Former commander refutes ex-defense minister, shaman testifies before lawmakers
Published: 04 Feb. 2025, 17:23
Updated: 04 Feb. 2025, 18:38
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- CHO JUNG-WOO
- [email protected]
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![Former Special Warfare Commander Kwak Jong-keun speaks during a parliamentary special committee hearing at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Feb. 4, as part of the investigation into President Yoon Suk Yeol's alleged insurrection charges. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/02/04/e409a2bc-d250-49c7-99ae-9907746f0c69.jpg)
Former Special Warfare Commander Kwak Jong-keun speaks during a parliamentary special committee hearing at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Feb. 4, as part of the investigation into President Yoon Suk Yeol's alleged insurrection charges. [YONHAP]
Former Special Warfare Commander Kwak Jong-keun on Tuesday refuted the former defense minister's claim that President Yoon Suk Yeol had ordered the removal of "agents," not lawmakers, from the National Assembly during the brief imposition of martial law.
Testifying before a parliamentary special committee investigating Yoon’s insurrection charges, Kwak, who has been indicted and detained over his alleged involvement in the martial law declaration, stressed that the impeached president had “clearly ordered” the removal of lawmakers. He said the president had called him on a secure phone on Dec. 3 and instructed him to clear people from the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul.
According to Kwak, he received the secure phone from the Presidential Security Service last year.
Reaffirming his previous testimony from Dec. 10, Kwak said Yoon had ordered him “to break down doors and forcibly remove” those inside the National Assembly, adding that there were no agents in the main building at the time of the order.
He additionally confirmed that lawmakers and their aides were the only targets of the removal order.
“I did not hear any instructions to maintain order, protect citizens or that martial law was declared as a mere warning — either before or during its imposition,” Kwak said.
During the fourth impeachment trial hearing on Jan. 23, Yoon’s legal team asked former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun whether he had been ordered to remove agents rather than lawmakers. Kim responded, “Yes,” adding that Kwak must have misunderstood the president’s orders.
Kim also testified last month that martial law had been imposed as a “warning to anti-state forces” and was not intended to impact citizens negatively. He further said that the decree was not meant to interfere with the legislature or the lifting of martial law.
Speaking in an interview with Democratic Party (DP) Rep. Kim Byung-joo, released on YouTube on Dec. 10, Kwak said that Yoon had ordered him to break into the National Assembly compound and forcibly remove lawmakers as the quorum for the plenary session to lift martial law had not been met.
During the hearing on Tuesday, lawmakers from the conservative People Power Party (PPP) accused the DP of influencing Kwak’s testimony, citing his relationship with Rep. Kim, a former military commander.
Kwak, however, stressed that he had testified “of his own will and at no one’s request.”
![Shaman Lee Seon-jin speaks during a parliamentary special committee hearing at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Feb. 4, as part of the investigation into President Yoon Suk Yeol's alleged insurrection charges. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/02/04/10ccbeb5-155d-4247-aed2-6bf036dac289.jpg)
Shaman Lee Seon-jin speaks during a parliamentary special committee hearing at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Feb. 4, as part of the investigation into President Yoon Suk Yeol's alleged insurrection charges. [NEWS1]
On the same day, Lee Seon-jin, known as a shaman whom former Defense Intelligence Command chief Noh Sang-won frequently visited, testified before a parliamentary investigation that Noh had repeatedly asked her about the fortunes of military personnel and to identify “betrayers" after giving her a list of soldiers.
Lee added that Noh also inquired about Kim’s future, where she told him that Kim seemed likely to become defense minister and assured Noh that he could serve the nation again if he worked with him.
Lee previously told local media that Noh had visited her frequently between February 2022 and January 2024 to ask about the fortunes of military personnel.
Noh has been indicted and is currently in detention, accused of conspiring with Kim to plan the martial law plot.
BY CHO JUNG-WOO [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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