January 14, 2025
SEOUL – South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense dismissed allegations it took military actions intended to provoke North Korea ahead of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s Dec. 3 martial law declaration.
“Our military has consistently deterred North Korea’s provocations through steadfast policies and robust military readiness,” the ministry said in a statement released to the press in Seoul on Monday.
“However, persistent suspicions linking the military to the martial law incident and accusing it of provoking North Korea’s aggression are causing security concerns and undermining our military activities,” it added.
The ministry’s statement came amid suspicions among opposition parties and local reports that the military sought to induce an aggressive response from North Korea to escalate tensions and create conditions favorable for Yoon to declare martial law.
Earlier on Thursday, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea included the operation of anti-Pyongyang loudspeakers, leaflet distribution and the deployment of troops to overseas conflict zones in its list of allegations to be investigated as part of Yoon’s botched martial law plot.
The main opposition floated the special counsel bill for the second time, adding allegations that the military planned artillery strikes on the launch sites of North Korea’s trash-filled balloons and deployed drones over Pyongyang in October, claiming that they may have a connection with Yoon’s declaration of a martial law.
The party argued that if such military actions were intended to provoke North Korea as a justification for Yoon to declare martial law, they would constitute treason, in addition to its earlier claim that Yoon’s martial law plot amounts to insurrection.
Among the key military figures allegedly involved in the martial law plot, as claimed by the main opposition party, are former Defense Intelligence Commander Roh Sang-won and former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun.
Roh’s notebook reportedly had written phrases such as “induce attacks from the North at the NLL” and “trash balloons.” Kim, former defense minister, is accused of instructing the Joint Chiefs of Staff to conduct artillery strikes on the launch sites of North Korea’s trash-filled balloons. Both Roh and Kim are currently under arrest for their alleged roles in the Dec. 3 martial law plot.
The Defense Ministry claimed that the military had not considered using artillery strikes on the launch sites of North Korea’s trash-carrying balloons floated into South Korea last year and argued that the resumption of anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts was a decision driven by military necessity, free from external or political influence.
Similarly, the Joint Chiefs of Staff dismissed the allegations that anti-Pyongyang leaflets were sent to provoke North Korea. Meanwhile, it neither confirmed nor denied the alleged deployment of drones over Pyongyang in October, citing operational security.
Meanwhile, the ministry added that Monday’s statement was issued independently and not in collaboration with the presidential office, while pledging full cooperation with ongoing investigations into its alleged involvement in Yoon’s botched martial law declaration.
While the ministry did not mention the allegations about deploying military personnel overseas to conflict zones on Monday, it stated that it had not dispatched any troops.
North Korea has been floating trash-carrying balloons across the border since May 2024, following South Korea’s suspension of the 2018 inter-Korean comprehensive military agreement in June 2024, in response to North Korea resuming all military activities in 2023.
According to the ministry, North Korea has violated the 2018 agreement more than 4,000 times since unilaterally withdrawing from it in December 2023. In response to the trash-carrying balloons, South Korea resumed anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts near the border.