Cho Eun-seok, the particular counsel who oversaw an unbiased investigation into final 12 months’s martial regulation disaster and alleged acts of revolt and treason, publicizes the findings of his workforce’s investigation on Dec. 15, 2025, on the Seoul Excessive Prosecutors’ Workplace within the metropolis’s Seocho District. (pool photograph)
Prosecutors beneath Cho Eun-seok, the particular counsel who oversaw an unbiased investigation into final 12 months’s martial regulation disaster in South Korea, suspect that the rationale former President Yoon Suk-yeol selected to declare martial regulation in early December of 2024 was to forestall an American intervention.
Ever since martial regulation was revoked in an early-morning vote by unexpectedly convened lawmakers on Dec. 4, there was appreciable hypothesis within the political world about why Yoon determined to declare martial regulation on Dec. 3, a date that was extremely impractical for quite a lot of causes.
When Yoon made the declaration at 10:28 pm on Tuesday, Dec. 3, many lawmakers have been at eating places close to the Nationwide Meeting. If he had waited till the weekend, lawmakers would in all probability have been of their respective districts as an alternative and would have had a tougher time reaching the Nationwide Meeting for the essential vote.
“It’s not possible to say definitively why Dec. 3 was chosen because the date for declaring martial regulation. Nonetheless, [former President Park Chung-hee’s] Yushin structure of October [1972] was additionally introduced throughout a US presidential election. It seems that the chaotic months after the presidential election and earlier than the inauguration have been used to forestall the US from interfering with troop actions,” mentioned Park Ji-yeong, Cho’s deputy particular counsel, whereas asserting the ultimate findings of the investigation on Monday.
“Martial regulation was declared throughout the chaotic time across the US presidential election. In impact, [martial law] is for certain to fail if it’s not acknowledged by the US. That’s one thing [Yoon] realized from the historical past of martial regulation declarations. We predict that’s in all probability why he selected that time-frame,” Park mentioned.
Donald Trump was elected to a second time period as president on Nov. 6, 2024, about one month earlier than Yoon’s martial regulation declaration, and he returned to the White Home on Jan. 20, 2025. So Yoon might have chosen Dec. 3 because the fateful day based mostly on his assumption that the US would in all probability not actively intervene within the Korean political state of affairs throughout the handover of energy.
“Cho Tae-yong, the director of the Nationwide Intelligence Service on the time, was supposed to depart the nation on Dec. 4 [the day after martial law was declared] for a gathering with the particular person nominated to guide the CIA; their assembly was scheduled for Dec. 5,” Park added.
Park additionally famous that the phrase “work with the US, give the US advance discover” appeared within the pocket book of Roh Sang-won, a former chief of the Protection Intelligence Command who’s believed to have performed a key unofficial position in organizing the martial regulation declaration as a civilian.
However Park mentioned she couldn’t verify why the date of Dec. 3 had been chosen throughout the two-month-long switch of energy within the US.
“We couldn’t discover any proof that the date was chosen to facilitate arrests [of lawmakers and other figures], nor might we discover any traces of shamanistic meddling regardless of the rumors going round,” she mentioned.
By Jung Hwan-bong, employees reporter; Kang Jae-gu, employees reporter
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