Former Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun
Yonhap news agency reported on December 27 that prosecutors in South Korea have just indicted former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who is being detained on sedition charges related to his role in imposing martial law on December 3.
Mr. Kim was arrested on December 8. Now, he is accused of participating in “fundamental” activities for a rebellion and abusing power during President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law.
This is the first indictment in the case. The special prosecution team handling the case detailed various allegations against Mr. Kim when announcing the indictment, accusing him of discussing martial law with Mr. Yoon since earlier this year.
Prosecutors said that Mr. Yoon had discussed with Mr. Kim the emergency martial law order many times, at least since March this year, and that preparations actually began last month.
According to the indictment, Mr. Kim dispatched soldiers from different units to the parliament during martial law to prevent lawmakers from voting to reject Mr. Yoon’s decision to impose martial law.
When the soldiers were present at the parliament building, President Yoon called Mr. Lee Jin-woo, commander of the Capital Defense Command, and ordered him to “break down the door and drag” the lawmakers out. outside.
In addition, prosecutors also accused Mr. Kim of ordering Mr. Yeo In-hyung, commander of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, to detain about a dozen people, including National Assembly Chairman Woo Won-shik, leader of the National Assembly. The leader of the ruling People’s Power Party at that time was Mr. Han Dong-hoon and the leader of the opposition Democratic Party Lee Jae-myung.
Mr. Kim is accused of sending soldiers to the offices of the National Election Commission, to try to destroy the election monitoring agency’s server.
Prosecutors determined that Mr. Kim’s actions were intended to overthrow the constitution and cause riots, a condition for the sedition charge.
In developments related to Korean politics, Reuters on December 27 quoted acting President of Korea Choi Sang-Mok (who had just been assigned the task) as declaring that he would do his best for the stability of the state.
He directed the military to be on high alert, saying that there was a possibility that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was trying to provoke.
Mr. Choi is the Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister in charge of economic affairs. He assumed the role of acting president on December 27, after the parliament voted to impeach acting President Han Duck-soo.
Mr. Han was impeached after announcing he would not appoint Constitutional Court judges until the parties reached a political agreement.
