South Korea The former defense minister was banned from attempting suicide while in custody last week Martial law statement, officials said on Wednesday, as President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office resisted an attempt by police to search the site.
The main liberal opposition party, the Democratic Party, is pushing for a new motion to impeach Yoon over his Dec. 3 decree declaring martial law South Korea For the first time in more than four decades.
Their first attempt to impeach Yoon last Saturday failed after ruling party lawmakers boycotted the vote. The party said it plans to submit the new motion on Thursday to schedule a vote on Saturday.
Yoon’s ill-conceived takeover has paralyzed South Korean politics, frozen its foreign policy and rattled financial markets. On Wednesday, rival North Korea’s state media first reported the unrest across the border, but the country reported no suspicious activity.
Shin Yong Hae, commissioner general of Korea’s Correctional Service, told lawmakers that former defense minister Kim Yong Hyun attempted to take his own life at a detention center in Seoul last night. He said correctional officers stopped him and he was in stable condition.
Kim was arrested by prosecutors early Wednesday on charges of playing a key role in an insurrection and abuse of power. He was the first to be formally arrested under the Martial Law Decree.
Kim, one of Yoon’s close confidants, was accused of recommending martial law to Yoon and sending troops into the National Assembly to prevent lawmakers from voting on it. Eventually enough MPs managed to enter a parliamentary chamber and unanimously rejected Yoon’s decree, forcing the cabinet to repeal it before dawn on December 4.
Kim said in a statement Tuesday that he “deeply apologizes for causing great public concern.” He said the entire responsibility for imposing martial law rested with him and appealed for leniency for the soldiers deployed to enforce martial law.
Prosecutors have up to 20 days to decide whether to charge Kim.
Yoon’s office blocks the search of the presidential compound
Later on Wednesday, police arrested National Police Agency Commissioner General Cho Ji Ho and Seoul Metropolitan Police Chief Kim Bong-sik. They were accused of sending police to Parliament to prevent MPs from voting.
Get national news daily
Receive the most important news and headlines from politics, business and current affairs in your inbox once a day.
The focus of the investigation is to determine whether Yoon, Kim and others involved in the imposition of martial law committed rebellion. If convicted of rebellion, the maximum penalty is the death penalty.
South Korean police said they sent officers to search Yoon’s office on Wednesday to look for evidence related to the imposition of martial law. But investigators were unable to enter the office on Wednesday evening, about six hours after they arrived, senior police officer Lee Ho-young told Parliament.
Some observers previously said the presidential security detail was unlikely to allow searches of Yoon’s office, citing a law that prohibits searches of sites containing state secrets without the consent of those in charge of those areas.
Yoon apologized Saturday for the martial law decree and said he would not shirk legal or political responsibility for it. He said he would let his party chart the course through the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office.”
The leader of Yoon’s ruling party later vowed to arrange the president’s final resignation from office, saying the party would coordinate with Cabinet members on state affairs and Yoon would be suspended from his duties.
The comments were criticized as unrealistic and unconstitutional and sparked widespread questions about who is in command of South Korea and its military at a time of rising tensions with North Korea. The Justice Ministry banned Yoon from leaving the country on Tuesday as he faces investigations.
Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon Ho reiterated on Wednesday that Yoon will continue to lead the military. But Yoon has not been involved in any major official activities since the lifting of martial law, other than accepting offers of resignation from officials implicated in the martial law case and appointing the head of the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
A Wednesday article from the North’s state news agency reported on the political chaos and protests in South Korea sparked by Yoon’s martial law decree. The report mostly attempted to explain South Korean events, although it called Yoon a “traitor” and his military “gangsters.”
Many experts say North Korea is sensitive to the spread of news of large anti-government protests abroad at home because its own people have no official access to international news and could be affected by such events. The US State Department said on Monday that the US-South Korea alliance remains “ironclad” and that Washington is committed to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.
In his martial law announcement, conservative Yoon stressed the need to rebuild the country by eliminating “shameless supporters of North Korea and anti-state forces,” a reference to his liberal rivals who control parliament. Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has had near-constant tensions with the Democratic Party, which filed motions to impeach some of his top officials and launched a political offensive over scandals involving Yoon and his wife.
Opposition parties and many experts consider the martial law decree to be unconstitutional. They say that by law a president can only declare martial law in times of war or similar emergency situations, but South Korea was not in such a predicament. They argue that using troops to seal off the National Assembly and suspend its political activities would amount to rebellion since the constitution does not allow a president to use the military to suspend parliament in any situation.
If Yoon is indicted, his powers as president would be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to restore his powers or remove him from office. If he were to be removed from office, a new presidential election would be necessary.
