Ex-lawmaker sued for alleging Yoon Suk Yeol was ‘drunk’ during martial law

SEOUL - A former lawmaker is facing legal actions after he raised suspicions that President Yoon Suk Yeol was under the influence of alcohol

during the imposition of martial law

in early December.

According to Mr Yoon’s legal representatives on Feb 19, a complaint was filed with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency against former lawmaker of the minor progressive Justice Party Kim Jong-dae on Feb 19 morning.

Mr Kim was accused of defaming the impeached president and misleading the public, making him just the latest on a list of those facing potential legal ramifications after publicly alluding to the president’s alleged drinking habits.

This came as Mr Kim on Feb 17 said that Mr Yoon was apparently drunk inside the Joint Chiefs of Staff building hours after he declared martial law, based on information he had obtained from military police.

Mr Kim said in a radio interview with CBS that he was told an unnamed military police officer inside the building could “smell alcohol on the breath of Mr Yoon” as he walked past the officer after a private conversation with then-Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun at between 1.30am and 2am on Dec 4. The National Assembly had passed its motion to reject martial law at about 1am the same day.

In response,

Mr Yoon’s legal team said on Feb 18

that the remarks imply that Mr Yoon had imposed martial law by accident while under the influence of alcohol, rather than upon deep contemplation.

“Mr Kim should refrain from depreciating the president’s determination (to impose martial law) using the privately obtained information that was not fact-checked,” Mr Yoon’s team said in a statement.

This followed the presidential office’s announcement on Feb 17 that it had sued an unnamed individual for generating and circulating explicit deepfake videos of Mr Yoon and his wife Kim Keon Hee. Images of Mr Yoon drinking heavily were among the deepfake material, as displayed at a rally in Gwangju on Feb 15 calling for his removal from the presidency with the impeachment verdict.

The career prosecutor-turned-president of South Korea has had a public perception as a heavy drinker, which has often sparked criticism.

Mr Yoon Yeo-joon, who was the environment minister under the late former President Kim Young-sam’s administration, raised suspicions based on hearsay that Mr Yoon had been “drinking all night until dawn every day,” blaming his drinking habit as leading to potentially insensible decisions, in a media interview in December.

Also in January, Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, citing a former minister of the Cabinet, raised suspicions that Mr Yoon had started to consume more alcohol at private dinner gatherings since the ruling party’s general election defeat in April 2024, adding that he was frequently bringing up the notion of declaring martial law. THE KOREA HERALD/ ASIA NEWS NETWORK