Former South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun was formally arrested on Tuesday, accused of conspiring with President Yoon Suk Yeol to impose martial law last week, as authorities investigate whether their actions could be considered rebellion.
The martial law on December 3 lasted only about six hours but was the first of its kind in over 40 years and has sparked a national scandal and large street protests. Yoon and his associates face criminal investigations and impeachment attempts. The Ministry of Justice has banned Yoon and eight others from leaving the country as authorities consider them key suspects in the martial law case. It is the first time such a travel ban has been imposed on a sitting president in South Korea.
The Central District Court in Seoul said on Tuesday that it granted prosecutors' request to issue an arrest warrant against Kim, who has been accused of recommending martial law to Yoon and sending troops to the National Assembly to prevent lawmakers from voting on the measure. Ultimately, enough lawmakers managed to enter a chamber of the Parliament to unanimously reject Yoon's decree, forcing the government to lift it before dawn on December 4.
Kim issued a statement on Tuesday apologizing deeply for causing significant anxiety and inconvenience. He claimed full responsibility for the implementation of martial law and pleaded for mercy for the soldiers deployed to enforce martial law, arguing that they were just following orders, as reported by the AP agency.
The Defense Minister has been detained since Sunday. He is the first person arrested in connection with the martial law case. Prosecutors have up to 20 days to investigate Kim and determine whether to press charges. A conviction for the charge of rebellion could carry the death penalty.
According to reports, prosecutors accuse Kim of playing a key role in a rebellion and abusing power by organizing a mutiny to violate the Constitution in collaboration with Yoon and other military and police officials.
Meanwhile, the opposition-controlled Parliament passed a bill on Tuesday to appoint an independent special prosecutor to investigate Yoon and several military commanders regarding the imposition of martial law. The main opposition party, the Democratic Party, had advocated for a special prosecutor investigation, arguing that public prosecutors cannot be trusted to conduct a thorough investigation of Yoon, a former attorney general.
During a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, Kwak Jong-keun, commander of the Army's Special Warfare Command whose troops were sent to the Parliament, testified that he received direct instructions from Kim to obstruct lawmakers' entry into the main chamber of the National Assembly. Kwak said that Kim's instructions were aimed at preventing the assembly from gathering the 150 votes needed to overturn Yoon's martial law order.
Kwak said that later Yoon called him directly and instructed the troops to "quickly break down the door and drag out the lawmakers inside." Kwak said that he discussed Yoon's order with the commander on-site and they concluded that there was nothing that could be done, ruling out the possibility of threatening lawmakers by firing blank rounds or cutting off electricity.
During the same session, military intelligence agency officer Kim Dae-woo said that his commander, Yeo In-hyung, asked him if an Army bunker in Seoul had space to detain politicians and other figures after martial law was imposed. Yeo is considered a close collaborator of Kim. Last week, Hong Jang-won, first deputy director of South Korea's National Intelligence Service, said that Yoon ordered him to assist Yeo's command in detaining some of his political rivals, but he ignored the president's order.
Kwak and Yeo are among those whom the opposition has accused of rebellion along with Yoon and Kim, and the Defense Ministry suspended them last week.
The opposition parties and many experts argue that the martial law decree was unconstitutional. They claim that a president is legally authorized to declare martial law only during "times of war, war-like situations, or other comparable national emergencies," but South Korea was not in such a situation. They argue that deploying troops to seal the National Assembly and suspend its political activities amounted to rebellion because the South Korean Constitution does not allow a president to use the military to suspend Parliament in any situation.
In his martial law announcement, conservative Yoon emphasized the need to rebuild the country by eliminating "brazen followers of North Korea and anti-state forces," referring to his progressive rivals who control the Parliament. Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has clashed almost constantly with the main opposition party, the Democratic Party, which has filed motions to impeach some of his top officials and has launched a fierce political offensive against Yoon over a series of scandals involving him and his wife.
Attention is now focused on how authorities could investigate Yoon and whether they could arrest him.
South Korean law grants the president immunity from prosecution while in office, except for charges of rebellion or treason. This means that Yoon can be questioned and detained by investigative agencies regarding his martial law decree, but many observers doubt that authorities will forcibly arrest him due to the potential for clashes with his presidential security service. They also say that the security service likely will not allow searches in Yoon's office, citing a law that prohibits searches in sites with state secrets without approval from the responsible authorities.
In the case of former President Park Geun-hye, who was impeached in 2017 after being censured by Parliament over a corruption scandal, prosecutors were unable to search her office and ended up receiving documents outside the complex because presidential officials denied them access. After refusing to meet with prosecutors while in office, Park was questioned by them and arrested after the Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment result and ruled her removal from the presidency in March 2017.
Yoon avoided impeachment on Saturday after most ruling party lawmakers boycotted a vote in the plenary. The Democratic Party said it would prepare a new impeachment trial for Yoon on Saturday. The party on Tuesday filed motions to impeach Yoon's police chief and Justice Minister. It attempted to impeach Kim and the Security Minister, but both resigned before parliamentary votes were held.
If Yoon loses the censure motion, his presidential powers would be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to restore his powers or confirm his removal. If it votes to remove him from office, a new presidential election would be required.