Defence minister, Yoon’s high school alumnus, named as mastermind of martial law plot
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Mr Kim Yong-hyun is a former three-star army general and an alumnus of the President’s high school.
PHOTO: AFP
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SEOUL - Who planted the ill-advised idea of martial law in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s mind?
As of noon on Dec 4, roughly eight hours after military rule was officially dropped
The defence ministry confirmed on Dec 4 that Mr Kim, who assumed his role in September 2024, had proposed the declaration of emergency martial law to the President through the Prime Minister. By law, either the defence or interior minister can propose martial law to the president via the prime minister in times of national emergency.
Mr Kim, a few minutes before the presidential decree went into effect at 11pm on Dec 3, called a meeting of key commanders and ordered heightened vigilance across the military.
As lawmakers gathered to invoke Parliament’s power to overturn the decree, armed forces, including members of the army’s special operations unit, entered the National Assembly’s main building, where the voting session was scheduled to take place.
Mr Kim, 66, is a former three-star army general and an alumnus of the President’s high school, joined Mr Yoon’s presidential campaign team in 2022. He is said to have played a leading role in relocating the presidential office to the Ministry of National Defence building in Yongsan and was later appointed as director of the Presidential Security Service.
When he was appointed defence minister in August 2024, some opposition lawmakers raised suspicions that his appointment was part of a plot by Mr Yoon’s office involving a martial law decree.
On Dec 4, this concern proved to be true.
Mr Kim is also from what is now infamously known as the Chungam faction, a group within the President’s inner circle composed of alumni from Chungam High School in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul. Mr Kim graduated from the school one year before the President.
Another key member is Mr Lee Sang-min, the interior minister, who graduated four years after Mr Yoon.
Mr Yoon has kept Mr Lee as his interior minister despite calls for his removal following the Itaewon crowd crush in October 2022.
The Chungam faction, and their supposed role in the martial law declaration, has drawn parallels with the secret military group Hanahoe in the 1970s, which was a key vehicle for military general-turned-dictator Chun Doo-hwan to seize power through a coup in 1979.
It also consisted mainly of alumni from the 11th class of the Korea Military Academy, including Mr Chun and his long-time friend and successor, former president Roh Tae-woo. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
