Former President Yoon Suk-yeol and his band of alleged accomplices in orchestrating and executing his declaration of martial regulation on Dec. 3, 2024. Titles mirror positions held on the time of the martial regulation disaster. (Hankyoreh graphic)
Deposed former President Yoon Suk-yeol argues that his martial declaration on Dec. 3 of final 12 months was meant as a public enchantment, and a shot throughout the bow of his political foes. For the reason that failure of his revolt, in different phrases, he has insisted that the martial regulation declaration was not a part of an elaborate plot.
However a collection of ongoing investigations and trials have revealed that Yoon had lengthy been hoping to declare martial regulation. Trying again, the omens of martial regulation are clear, even when they had been initially dismissed as absurd conspiracy theories.
For instance, there are the remarks that Yoon made at a dinner with leaders of the Individuals Energy Occasion whom he invited to his private residence on Nov. 25, 2022: “I’ve emergency powers at my disposal. I’ll wipe them out even when I find yourself in entrance of the firing squad,” he stated. That was simply six months after taking workplace.
Investigators working with Cho Eun-seok, the particular counsel for the revolt probe, have reached the conclusion that Yoon started making ready for martial regulation in late 2023, after he was placed on the again foot by allegations that he’d interfered in a Marine investigation right into a corporal’s loss of life throughout flood rescue efforts and a scandal over a luxurious purse given to his spouse Kim Keon-hee.
Yoon appointed graduates of his alma mater, Choongam Excessive Faculty, and the Korea Navy Academy, like Kim Yong-hyun and Yeo In-hyeong, to key positions within the nationwide safety equipment in an try to wield extra direct affect over the federal government.
The notorious pocket book of Roh Sang-won, the previous chief of the Protection Intelligence Command recognized because the mastermind behind the martial regulation declaration, features a checklist of generals who had been all promoted shortly after Oct. 2023: Yeo In-hyeong, So Hyeong-ki (later chief of workers of the Protection Counterintelligence Command), Park An-su, Kim Heung-joon (deputy chief of workers of the Military) and Son Sik (commander of floor operations).
The navy’s reshuffle of general-level officers in October and November 2023 finalized a lineup consisting of Park An-su as chief of workers of the Military, Yeo In-hyeong as chief of the Protection Counterintelligence Command, Kwak Jong-geun as chief of the Military Particular Warfare Command, Lee Jin-woo as chief of the Capital Protection Command and Moon Sang-ho as chief of the Protection Intelligence Command.
Yoon talked about his emergency powers once more on March 29, 2024, in a gathering at his secure home with Yeo In-hyeong, Protection Minister Shin Gained-sik, nationwide safety adviser Cho Tae-yong and Presidential Safety Service chief Kim Yong-hyun. That was about 10 days earlier than Korea’s parliamentary election on April 10, which Yoon has since claimed was rigged after his occasion suffered a crushing defeat.
Boozy conferences between figures who would play key roles within the revolt grew much more frequent. A June 17 assembly was attended by Kim Yong-hyun, Yeo In-hyeong, Kwak Jong-geun and Lee Jin-woo, with Kim praising the opposite males as “generals who’re completely loyal to the president.”
On Aug. 12, Yoon appointed Kim Yong-hyun, then head of his safety service, as minister of nationwide protection, whereas shunting Shin to the place of nationwide safety adviser. Shin’s transfer might have appeared like a promotion, however in actuality, he had been jettisoned from the president’s inside circle due to his criticism of the martial regulation plan.
It was 9 days later that Kim Min-seok, a lawmaker with the Democratic Occasion, first raised suspicions that Yoon was planning to declare martial regulation: “It’s my assured and knowledgeable view that the current political developments — together with the president’s abrupt alternative of the protection minister and his weird remarks about ‘anti-state forces’ — are a key a part of preparations for martial regulation that may be prompted by a localized battle or different scare involving North Korea.”
Kim Yong-hyun, the brand new protection minister, strenuously rejected such claims as “fallacious instigation.”
However that turned out to be a bald-faced lie. As planning for the martial regulation declaration proceeded, the Choongam Excessive Faculty alum clique started to cross the road with its audacious conduct.
Showing earlier than the Nationwide Meeting’s Nationwide Protection Committee as a part of a daily parliamentary audit on Oct. 18, 2024, Yeo stated he “feels no actual want to reply” to questions from opposition lawmakers.
When it was identified that this was unbecoming for a navy man to behave in such a approach, Kim Yong-hyun lined for Yeo, saying, “I feel he’d be extra of an fool to not communicate his thoughts simply because he’s in navy uniform” — a response made attainable by his contempt of those that would quickly be “worn out,” in Yoon’s phrases.
The identical day of this imperious show earlier than the Nationwide Meeting by members of the Choongam clique, the navy’s Drone Operations Command despatched an unmanned aerial automobile throughout the DMZ and into Pyongyang. This was the second spherical of infiltration, after one other 5 days earlier — each carried out beneath Kim Yong-hyun’s management with authorization from Yoon.
These incursions into North Korea had been provocations geared toward pushing the Korean Peninsula to the brink of warfare so as to justify the declaration of martial regulation, however to these masterminding the operation, it was merely a “as soon as in a lifetime alternative” to be seized, as Yeo wrote in notes on his cellphone on Oct. 18.
The actual scheming for the tried self-coup started in November 2024. Roh Sang-won — the dishonorably discharged former commander of the Protection Intelligence Command who’s seen as the key mastermind behind the plot — and his band of fellow conspirators, made up of these within the DIC, met on 4 separate events in espresso outlets and a Lotteria in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, the place they made plans to occupy the Nationwide Election Fee.
Between September and Dec. 3, 2024, Roh had visited the protection minister’s residence 22 occasions.
On Dec. 2, the eve of the revolt, Roh made one remaining go to to Kim Yong-hyun’s residence. Two hours later, Kim delivered the ultimate drafts of the declaration of martial regulation, the tackle to the nation, and the primary martial regulation proclamation to Yoon. The preparations for the revolt had been full.
By Kim Ji-eun, workers reporter
Please direct questions or feedback to [english@hani.co.kr]
