South Korea’s impeached prime minister says Cabinet expressed concerns over martial law plan

SEOUL - South Korea’s impeached prime minister told Parliament on Feb 6 that “everyone” in a hastily-arranged meeting of ministers expressed concerns about President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law plan before he announced it on Dec 3.

Mr Han Duck-soo, who was briefly acting president after Mr Yoon was impeached and suspended from power on Dec 14 before being impeached himself, joined acting President Choi Sang-mok, the finance minister, in facing parliamentary questioning over their role in the shock martial law decision.

“Everyone objected and expressed worry and raised the problems with this decision to the president,” Mr Han told a special committee, referring to the meeting where Mr Yoon told some Cabinet members of his intention to declare martial law.

The martial law lasted only around six hours before Mr Yoon rescinded the order in the face of opposition from Parliament, but it send shockwaves through Asia’s fourth-largest economy and sparked a spiralling political crisis.

Mr Choi told the committee that the biggest challenges in the country right now include the livelihood of the people and changes in the international order.

“There’s the need to stabilise government administration,” he said.

Mr Yoon appeared on Feb 6 at a hearing in his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court, which will decide whether to reinstate him or remove him permanently from office.

Senior military officials testified in the court about their role in deploying to Parliament that night.

“My mission was to blockade the Parliament building and the members’ hall, and secure those buildings,” said Army Colonel Kim Hyun-tae, who personally led about 97 special forces troops on the ground.

Col Kim said after they entered the building, his commander Kwak Jong-geun ordered him to get in the main chamber of the building where lawmakers had gathered to lift the martial law.

Col Kim said Kwak, the commander of the Army Special Warfare Command, told him to stop 150 or more “people” from gathering, but his troops were unable to enter the chamber.

He testified that it was unclear whether the order meant lawmakers, and he didn’t know the significance at the time.

Parliament needed a quorum of 150 lawmakers to void the martial law decree. In the end, 190 of them defied the cordon around the building to vote against Mr Yoon’s decision.

Kwak, who has been suspended and criminally charged over his role in the imposition of martial law, addressed the court later on Feb 6.

He testified that Mr Yoon had directly ordered Kwak to “drag the personnel” out of the chamber, because the “voting quorum” had not been met at that time.

Looking back, Kwak said he thought the troop deployment was wrong and regretted not being able to say no to his bosses’ order.

“I decided to be truthful because I was worried (people) would say what I said was wrong or right,” he said.

He previously told the Parliament that Mr Yoon did not ask him to protect civilians or withdraw his troops, contradicting Mr Yoon’s claims.

Mr Yoon’s lawyers questioned the credibility of Kwak’s statements and said Mr Yoon did not give an order to remove the lawmakers because it would be difficult to achieve.

Mr Yoon has denied any wrongdoing and allegations about attempted arrests of politicians. He has defended the martial law decree as his right as head of the state.

Speaking in court, Mr Yoon said he had called Kwak but only to check the situation and safety on the ground.

“I hope our judges look into this issue based on common sense, whether it makes sense to suddenly call and say drag out or block the quorum between top and bottom in public service,” he said, accusing Kwak of framing him as leading an insurrection.

Mr Yoon is in jail and separately faces a criminal trial on insurrection charges. REUTERS