South Korean military personnel indicted for participation in martial law

South Korea’s Public Prosecutor’s Office indicted this Friday (3) the country’s top Army commander, as well as the head of the Special Forces, for their alleged role in the imposition of martial law last December.

Chief of Staff General Park An-su, responsible for military command during martial law, and Lieutenant General Kwak Jong-keun, head of the Special Forces Command, were indicted on charges of insurrection and abuse of power, as detailed by the South Korean MP.

Park was appointed Martial Law Commander after now-retired President Yoon Suk-yeol declared a state of emergency on December 3 and was responsible for issuing the decree, which investigators believe contains unconstitutional elements such as a ban on all political activity.

In turn, Kwak is accused of sending special operations forces to the National Assembly on orders from Yoon to surround the building and prevent deputies from passing a motion to reject martial law.

Prosecutors considered his actions intended to subvert the Constitution and amount to charges of insurrection. The indictment comes after the pair were arrested in December.

Also on Friday, authorities in South Korea suspended an operation to arrest Yoon and question him over his December declaration of martial law due to obstruction by his security team at his Seoul residence.

A spokesperson for the Office for Corruption Investigations of High-Level Officials (CIO) told the press that the operation was called off at around 1:30 pm (local time, 1:30 am Brasília time), after 30 agency agents and 50 police officers were blocked. for three or four hours by the presidential security service, which refused to grant access to the interior of the house.

According to a CIO official reported to the Yonhap news agency, the presidential security service formed several perimeters with around 200 agents who stopped investigators 200 meters from the residence.

Yoon, who was banned from leaving the country, was removed from office by Parliament on December 14. The Constitutional Court of South Korea also determined this Friday that the first hearing on the impeachment trial will be held on January 14, to determine whether he should be returned to office or permanently removed.