December 30, 2024
SEOUL – Investigators reviewing insurrection and power abuse accusations against President Yoon Suk Yeol have received testimony from former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who is suspected of conspiring with the president and relaying Yoon’s orders to military commanders during his ill-fated martial law decree on Dec. 3-4.
The president was ordered to appear for questioning by 10 a.m. on Sunday, but did not comply with the order, as was the case with two previous summonses.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials on Saturday received the investigation documents related to Kim from the prosecutors office. The former defense minister is currently under arrest for his part in the alleged insurrection.
The prosecution recently seized Kim’s mobile phone in investigate his calls with Yoon, potentially linked to orders to mobilize troops during martial law to seal off the National Assembly, occupy the National Election Commission and arrest politicians.
Testimony suggests that Kim, a close confidant of Yoon and minister of defense at the time, was the one who suggested the martial law declaration.
The phone will be subject to forensic analysis on Monday.
The COI and the prosecution have been zeroing in on Kim and other high-ranking military commanders already in custody for investigation of possibly illegal orders given during the hours of martial law.
Kim, martial law commander Gen. Park An-su, Army counterintelligence commander Gen. Yeo In-hyeong, Capital Defense Command chief Lt. Gen. Lee Jin-woo, former and current Defense Intelligence commanders Roh Sang-won and Moon Sang-ho, and other prominent figures have been placed under arrest.
Choo Kyung-ho, who recently stepped down as floor leader of ruling People Power Party, has been summoned for questioning by the prosecution on suspicion of purposefully hindering the parliamentary vote to end martial law.
Yoon, who is the subject of a criminal investigation for insurrection and abuse of power and is undergoing an impeachment trial, did not respond to the third summons sent by the COI last Thursday. The president’s representatives claimed to local media that the COI has no authority to investigate him for insurrection.
The COI’s possible options include requesting that the court issue an arrest warrant for the president. The Constitution states that a president can be indicted in case of insurrection, but no sitting president has ever been arrested.
The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea continued its offensive against the president and the ruling party. It passed a motion to impeach Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who had been carrying out presidential duties since Yoon’s impeachment, after he said he would not approve the opposition’s unilateral passage of new Constitutional Court justices.
A Democratic Party official told local media that the party is considering an impeachment motion against current acting President Choi Sang-mok if he too refuses to approve the appointment of the new judges.